Explosions Rattle U.S. Base in Irbil as Strikes on Iran Enter Their 13th Night Over Strait of Hormuz

At about 9:30 on Friday morning, an Associated Press journalist in Irbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, heard at least seven explosions. At least four plumes of black smoke rose from areas near or inside a base at the city's airport, which hosts U.S. forces. The blasts came hours after the U.S. military said it had finished its 13th night of strikes against Iran.

U.S. Central Command said the latest barrage was meant to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten civilian mariners and commercial vessels in regional waters. The strikes ended shortly before 5 a.m. local time. The fighting began as a struggle over control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and gas moved in peacetime, and the two sides have since traded escalating strikes.

Iranian semiofficial outlets Fars and ISNA reported that U.S. strikes hit a Revolutionary Guard naval base in northern Iran. Blasts overnight were also reported on Qeshm Island, where Iran stores naval assets including drone boats it can use against vessels in the strait, and in Isfahan province, home to a major air base and one of Iran's nuclear sites. More strikes were reported in Khuzestan province in the southwest and Fars province in the south.

Iranian state media gave casualty figures. Four people were killed and nine injured in the bombardment overall. Four dead and five wounded came from a U.S. missile attack on the outskirts of Ahvaz, on the Karun River. An attack in Lorestan province in the west injured two, and two more were hurt by explosions in Bandar Abbas, a port city that is a critical hub for both military supplies and trade cargo.

Elsewhere in the region, Bahrain activated its sirens twice on Friday morning, warning residents to shelter from incoming fire. Gulf states have come under frequent fire over the past week. On Thursday, Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said they had targeted two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, a step that could widen the war. They also threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Around 12 per cent of world trade passes there, including a fourth of global container traffic moving between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal.

Lloyd's List Intelligence called the Houthi attacks a "double whammy" on top of the Hormuz disruption, because they threaten oil shipments from Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port. Saudi Arabia has diverted millions of barrels a day of exports to Yanbu by overland pipeline since the war bottled up the Persian Gulf. President Donald Trump threatened "major military punishment" against the Houthis if the ship attacks continue. Brent crude jumped more than 6 per cent to about US$100 a barrel, its highest since May, before a preliminary peace agreement reached last month that has since collapsed.

The core dispute is unchanged. Iran says it has the right to manage traffic in the strait and possibly charge fees, though it was open to all toll-free before the war. It has attacked ships using a route overseen by U.S. forces and meant to sit outside Tehran's control.

On Thursday, Trump said on social media that Iranian money held and controlled by the United States would pay for damages to ships, cargo or anything related. He called this "the fair and equitable thing to do." It was unclear what legal mechanisms he would use. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the idea on X, writing that once governments normalize confiscation, no one's assets are safe, and that the ensuing chaos would not be pretty or peaceful.

Iraq's Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, whose country has close ties to both Washington and Tehran, was in Tehran on Thursday calling for peace and dialogue. His office said he promised not to let Iraqi territory be used for attacks on Iran. He met Trump in Washington earlier this month. The Irbil explosions now test that pledge, and the Houthi threat to Bab el-Mandeb is the next point to watch.