UN urges 6,000 sailors’ evacuation from Hormuz as Iran warns US allies

UN rights chief Volker Turk on Friday urged countries involved in the Middle East war to help evacuate and repatriate some 6,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz.

"Parties to the conflict should urgently work to facilitate safe passage for stranded seafarers to safely evacuate and disembark, as well as ensure the delivery of critical supplies," his spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told reporters in Geneva.

Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that they targeted a data centre in Bahrain belonging to US tech giant Amazon, state media reported.

The forces "targeted and destroyed the intelligence data centre building of the American company Amazon, which plays a major role in completing information for the American child-killing army", they said in a statement aired by state TV.

Neither Amazon nor Bahraini authorities have commented so far on Iran's claims.

The Guards -- the ideological arm of the military -- had also said on Wednesday that they targeted the data centre.

Tehran maintains that any facility or base in the Middle East that the US military uses for strikes on Iran is considered a legitimate target for retaliatory attacks.

The Iran's military also carried out drone strikes against several American military facilities and bases in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait in retaliation for the latest US attacks against the Islamic republic.

"This morning, the fuel tanks, large equipment warehouses and silos and the barracks of the US terrorist army forces at the Isa Air Base in Bahrain were targeted by Arash kamikaze drones," the army said in a statement carried by state TV.

An AFP journalist in Bahrain reported an explosion and the sounding of warning sirens in the country on Friday morning, though it was not immediately clear if the two events were linked.

The Iranian army also claimed drone attacks against Jordan, targeting "aircraft hangars, aviation maintenance hangars and a barracks" at Al-Azraq base.

In a separate statement, the Iranian army said it had launched drones at US equipment warehouses in Camp Udairi and the site of American military personnel in Camp Doha and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of Iran's military, said it had targeted the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, claiming to have destroyed an ammunition depot and inflicted casualties among US personnel.

Tehran argues that any facility or base in the Middle East that the US military uses for strikes on Iran is considered a legitimate target for retaliation.

Iran warns countries against assisting in US attacks 

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Iran would hold accountable any country assisting the United States in an attack on the Islamic republic.

"Any participation, cooperation or assistance in committing aggression against Iran will create international responsibility for the relevant parties," Araghchi said at a meeting in Kyrgyzstan.

The Iranian top diplomat maintained that Tehran "reserves its right to take all necessary measures within the framework of self-defence".

Meanwhile, Iran's army said on Friday it carried out drone strikes against several American military facilities and bases in Bahrain and Jordan in retaliation for the latest US attacks against the Islamic republic.

"This morning, the fuel tanks, large equipment warehouses and silos and the barracks of the US terrorist army forces at the Isa Air Base in Bahrain were targeted by Arash kamikaze drones," the army said in a statement carried by state TV.

An AFP journalist in Bahrain reported an explosion and the sounding of warning sirens in the country on Friday morning, though it was not immediately clear if the two events were linked.

The Iranian army also claimed drone attacks against Jordan, targeting "aircraft hangars, aviation maintenance hangars and a barracks" at Al-Azraq base.

Jordan has not reported any strikes in the last few hours.

Tehran argues that any facility or base in the Middle East that the US military uses for strikes on Iran is considered a legitimate target for retaliation.

An overnight US attack on Iran's southwestern province of Khuzestan killed at least four people and injured several others, Iranian state media reported Friday.

"Following the missile attack by the terrorist US enemy on areas around the city of Ahvaz, four of our compatriots were martyred and five others were injured," Valiollah Hayati, deputy governor of the province, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Explosions, smoke near Iraq's Erbil airport
Several blasts sounded on Friday near Erbil airport, which hosts US-led coalition troops in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, an AFP journalist said.

Explosions were heard after air defences were activated, according to the journalist who also saw drones hovering over the city and smoke rising in the airport area.

Since hostilities resumed in the Middle East, drones have repeatedly been intercepted over Erbil, which is also home to a major US consulate complex.

US attacks Guards base
Iranian authorities said on Friday that the United States struck a Revolutionary Guards' base in the northern province of Gilan, state media reported.

"This morning, an IRGC naval forces headquarters in Zibakenar was targeted by American enemy projectiles, which damaged some of the equipment in the complex," said Ali Bagheri, deputy governor for the province, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

Frozen Iranian assets will pay for damage to shipping, says Trump

President Donald Trump has said that the US would begin using frozen Iranian assets to pay for ships and cargo damaged by strikes in and around the Gulf.

"Please let this statement serve to represent, until further notice, that from this point forth, any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo, or anything related thereto, will be paid for by Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls," Trump said on Truth social on Thursday.

In reaction, Tehran said Friday that US President Donald Trump's threat to pay for shipping damage with Iranian assets was an "incendiary precedent".

"Seizing another nation's assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X.

Fresh US wave of strikes on Iran

The United States launched a fresh wave of strikes on Iranian military targets early Friday, marking the thirteenth night of active combat in the region as President Donald Trump vowed to use frozen Iranian assets to pay for any damage to shipping.

The latest volley comes the night after Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen opened a new front in the war with attacks on oil tankers in Red Sea shipping lanes -- though US Central Command (CENTCOM) did not specifically mention the rebel blockade in announcing the latest offensive.

Iranian state media reported that US missiles hit the southwestern city of Ahvaz, and explosions were heard in nearby Omidiyeh, as well as the port city of Bandar Abbas and the island of Qeshm on the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM said the attacks "aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping".

Oil prices soared along with the increased threat to the energy trade.

Trump said the United States would hold Iran responsible for the Houthis' actions and warned both would soon receive a "major military punishment".

The international oil benchmark Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel for the first time since May, up seven percent, while world leaders expressed alarm over the Houthi Red Sea attacks.

"The situation is getting out of control. It is teetering on the edge of the unimaginable," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned.

"One crisis feeds another. One escalation triggers the next," he told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned "the energy shock could intensify further" and push up inflation, feeding speculation about a September eurozone interest rate hike.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, meanwhile, warned of "dire consequences" for oil-importing economies and said "nothing -- absolutely nothing -- suggests that a ceasefire, let alone peace, could be reached".

The war resumed this month after a ceasefire that had lasted just a few weeks, throwing the region back into chaos as Iran and the United States battled for control of the vital Strait of Hormuz.

"The armed forces' retaliatory attacks will continue as long as the US attacks on the country's infrastructure and coastal areas continue," Iran's army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia said, according to state television.

Yemen's Houthis joined the conflict this week, declaring a blockade of Saudi ports and claiming attacks on tankers.

Jordan and Kuwait both reported intercepting strikes as Iran's military and Revolutionary Guards claimed to be targeting US assets in both countries.

Late Thursday, Trump said on social media that the US would begin using frozen Iranian assets "that the United States has in its possession, and controls" to pay for "any and all damages done to Ships, Cargo or anything related" in the region.

- Houthis step in -
While Trump has returned to war and his fierce rhetoric, the conflict is proving increasingly unpopular at home.

With midterm elections looming in November, the US House of Representatives passed a symbolic vote, backed by opposition Democrats and a handful of Republicans, calling for the president to halt the war.

Kuwait, meanwhile, reported a drone attack against one of its border posts with Iraq, saying it caused no casualties.

The emirate also later said its air defences were "intercepting hostile missile and drone attacks following the wrongful Iranian aggression".

The Houthis said they had carried out missile and drone strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea, the Encelia and the Layla, after declaring their blockade of Saudi ports.

British naval security monitor UKMTO said the master of a tanker reported being hit by an unknown projectile about 70 nautical miles southwest of Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire.

Saudi Arabia confirmed the Encelia had been struck, without commenting on the other tanker.

The new threat in the Red Sea could compound the shock of the Hormuz closure, endangering Riyadh's ability to bypass the strait for some oil exports.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they stopped three oil tankers from transiting Hormuz, as they vie with the US Navy for control over a route through which around one fifth of the world's oil once passed.

On the sidelines of a Southeast Asian summit in Manila, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Houthis had been "suckered" into attacking Red Sea shipping by Iran.

"The Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of all this throughout the conflict, but they now apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this, going after Saudi Arabia and their ships," Rubio said.

Oman, a key mediator in the longstanding war between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, said it was working to resume talks between the two sides, as it voiced "great concern" at the situation in the Red Sea.