A rapidly intensifying confrontation across the Middle East saw US forces board a tanker on 17 July amid a blockade of Iranian ports, as Iranian media reported a series of strikes on the country’s infrastructure, according to the Guardian’s live coverage.

Iranian media said an airport and bridges were hit, along with a southern rail station. The reports point to attacks reaching into Iran’s civilian and transport infrastructure, though the Guardian’s coverage did not detail casualties or the full extent of the damage.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have destroyed US fighter jets stationed in Jordan, as part of Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the region. The Guardian noted that Anadolu Agency published a map of the reported US attacks on Iran and Tehran’s responses.

The conflict also drew in neighbouring states. Kuwait’s energy ministry said one of its power and water desalination plants was attacked by Iran, resulting in a fire and damage to the facility, according to the report.

The IRGC issued a stark warning to countries hosting US bases, saying they would pay a ‘devastating price’ if American forces continued to attack Iran’s civilian infrastructure. In a statement carried by state media, it said: ‘The American enemy and the hosts of its bases in the region should know that crossing red lines and attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure will have a very severe and devastating price to pay. Should the enemy continue on this path, even more crushing responses are on the way.’

The developments unfolded around the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, with the boarding of a tanker underscoring the maritime dimension of the crisis as Iranian ports faced a blockade. The Guardian later closed its live blog on the day’s events, directing readers to continuing coverage.