Iran launches fresh missile strikes after accusing US of attack near nuclear facility
By BBC, July 9, 2026The US and Iran have traded strikes for a second night, as observers report a “dramatic” drop in the number of ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US says it hit 90 military targets, some near the Strait. Iran says 14 people have been killed in the past two days. State media also reported that targets near the Bushehr nuclear power plant were hit in the afternoon.
Iran said it targeted US assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar in response.
Later on Thursday, Tehran launched more strikes on sites in Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, state-linked media reported.
Khamenei burial
Separately, huge crowds have gathered for the burial of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after six days of funeral events.
Crowds massed on the streets of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran waving Iranian flags, while some were pictured holding signs carrying deaths threats directed at US President Donald Trump.
Khamenei was killed on 28 February during the first hours of US and Israeli strikes against Iran.
Iran’s foreign ministry denounced the latest US strikes as a “grave war crime”, describing the US administration as “evil and psychopathic”
Bridges and a railway route connecting Tehran to the city of Mashhad, where the late supreme leader’s funeral is being held, were also damaged, the foreign ministry said.
Those killed
Iran’s health ministry says 14 people have been killed during this latest round of fighting.Hossein Kermanpour, head of public relations at the ministry, said US attacks targeting five provinces in Iran over 8 and 9 July have also injured 78 people, of whom 47 remain in hospital.
Gulf nations reported Iranian attacks following the US strikes, with explosions in Bahrain’s capital Manama, Kuwait intercepting missiles and drones, and Qatar issuing a security alert.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that it launched retaliatory strikes on US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain overnight, and called them the “first phase of the punitive response against the American treaty-breakers”.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is also the country’s chief negotiator with the US, said on X that America “still hasn’t learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free”.
“Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you’ll get hit,” he wrote, adding that the Strait of Hormuz will only open under Iranian arrangements – not “American threats”.
US Central Command (Centcom) said the most recent round of strikes was carried out to “further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners” in the vital waterway.
In a statement, it said it had struck 90 Iranian military targets, which included air defense systems and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.
“The latest strikes follow successful execution of offensive strikes in Iran the night before,” Centcom added.