Trump ordered a sixth night of Iran strikes that hit bridges and collapsed a port tower, again defying the war-powers resolution

Overnight into Friday, July 17, 2026 -- concluding at dawn -- the U.S. military carried out its sixth consecutive night of airstrikes on Iran, U.S. Central Command said, expanding the campaign to hit bridges, electrical infrastructure, and port facilities. The strikes hit highway and railway bridges in Bandar-e Khamir, a city in Iran's Hormozgan province on the Strait of Hormuz, in an attack that appeared aimed at cutting off Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port, from roads leading to the country's interior. Iranian state television reported at least seven people killed in Bandar-e Khamir; Al Jazeera separately reported Tehran's count at eight dead across the night's strikes, which also hit Qeshm Island, Chabahar, and Iranshahr.

The strikes also collapsed a tower at Iran's Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked neighboring Afghanistan, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported. CENTCOM said it hit dozens of targets overnight to "further degrade Iranian military capabilities," and the U.S. military separately said it redirected three commercial vessels attempting to bypass its blockade of Iran in the Gulf of Oman, disabling one that failed to comply and boarding another. Iran's Energy Ministry acknowledged for the first time that power infrastructure had been struck, urging residents in southern provinces experiencing extreme heat to conserve electricity.

The strikes came after an interim U.S.-Iran ceasefire collapsed, with both sides accusing the other of violating last month's memorandum of understanding. Congress passed the first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution in June 2026 directing the administration to end hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or specific new authorization; the administration has continued near-nightly strikes since without seeking one. Speaking in a primetime address the same evening, Trump said of the war effort, "We are likewise winning big in Iran, and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly."