Death toll in strike on Iranian bridge rises to 8 with almost 100 injured, Iran state media reports
The death toll from Thursday’s attack on the B1 bridge in Karaj, Iran, has risen to eight, up from two, and 95 others were injured, Iranian state media reports.
Donald Trump earlier boasted about the attack, warning Tehran there was “much more to follow” and urged it to “make a deal before it is too late”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the attack wouldn’t force Tehran to surrender. “It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray,” he said.
Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.
Key events
‘Spiral of death and destruction must stop,’ says Guterres
UN secretary-general António Guterres has issued a stark warning to the warring parties, calling for an immediate end to the “spiral of death and destruction” in the Middle East.
“Every day the war in the Middle East continues, human suffering and devastation grow, indiscriminate attacks grow, and the perils to our world grow,” he said.
The conflict is being felt everywhere. We must find a peaceful way out. The spiral of death & destruction must stop now.
In a prior post, he called on the United States and Israel to “stop the war that is inflicting immense human suffering & triggering devastating economic consequences”, and urged Iran to stop attacking its neighbours.
“Conflicts end when leaders choose dialogue over destruction,” he said. “That choice still exists. And it must be made now.”
Hegseth asks US army chief to step down
US Army chief of staff Randy George was asked to step down by defense secretary Pete Hegseth and take immediate retirement, CBS News reports.
In the last year, Hegseth has moved quickly to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement Donald Trump’s national security agenda.
George, an infantry officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was confirmed to the top post in 2023. Terms in that role usually run for four years.
Prior to holding the top job, George was the vice chief of the army and, before that, the senior military adviser to then-defense secretary Lloyd Austin.
His removal adds to recent upheaval at all levels of leadership at the Pentagon, including the firing last year of the previous chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, air force general CQ Brown, as well as the chief of naval operations and air force vice-chief of staff.
The office for George did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
A US military official has told the New York Times that it was US forces that struck the B1 bridge connecting Tehran and Karaj in Iran on Thursday, in an attack that Iranian media reported killed at least 8 people and injured 95 others.
The attack on the bridge – a major infrastructure project that was nearing completion – eliminated a planned military supply route for sustaining Iran’s ballistic missile and attack drone force, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to share operational details.
Donald Trump earlier boasted about the attack and appeared to take US responsibility, warning Tehran that there was “much more to follow” if it did not make a deal.
Death toll in strike on Iranian bridge rises to 8 with almost 100 injured, Iran state media reports
The death toll from Thursday’s attack on the B1 bridge in Karaj, Iran, has risen to eight, up from two, and 95 others were injured, Iranian state media reports.
Donald Trump earlier boasted about the attack, warning Tehran there was “much more to follow” and urged it to “make a deal before it is too late”.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the attack wouldn’t force Tehran to surrender. “It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray,” he said.
Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.
Strait of Hormuz is ‘open for us’, says Russia
The strait of Hormuz is open to Russia, Vladimir Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov has said.
While Iran has effectively closed the strait to most ships, Russian state media reported Ushakov as saying on Thursday that it was “open for us”.
Almost 2,000 vessels are currently stranded inside the Persian Gulf, according to the International Marine Organization. But some vessels with ties to Iran, China, India and Pakistan have been able to pass through the strait.
Ushakov’s comments came as the Iranian and Russian foreign ministers discussed the safety of navigation in the critical waterway during a phone call.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that they also discussed the efforts taken by a number of states to de-escalate tensions in the region
It added they also “exchanged views on the progress of discussions in the UN Security Council on ways to ensure the safety of navigation in the strait of Hormuz and overcome other consequences of the unprovoked aggression of the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
US striking civilian structures a sign of ‘moral collapse’, says Iranian foreign minister
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Washington’s recent strikes on civilian infrastructure will not force Tehran to back down, adding that such actions “convey the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray”.
“Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender,” Araghchi said in a post on X. “It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray. Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America’s standing.”
Donald Trump earlier boasted about the strike on the B1 bridge in Karaj, west of Tehran, which killed at least two people and injured several others. He warned there was “much more to follow” and urged Tehran to “make a deal before it is too late”.
Houthis claim further strikes on Israeli targets
Yemen’s Houthis have said they have carried out another military operation using a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting “vital Israeli enemy targets”, this time as part of a joint operation with Iran and Hezbollah.
The Israeli military earlier said it had detected a missile launch coming from Yemeni territory and was working to intercept.
Iran preparing proposal for joint post-war strait of Hormuz navigation protocol with Oman
Iran said on Thursday it was drafting a peacetime protocol that would supervise – but not restrict – maritime traffic through the strait of Hormuz with Oman, AFP reports citing state media, with Tehran’s closure of the vital oil corridor roiling the global economy.
Deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told Russia’s Sputnik state media that the protocol would apply after the ongoing war with the United States and Israel had ended, setting basic rules to manage ship movements, the IRNA news agency said.
“We are currently finalising the drafting of this protocol and, once it has been finalised internally, we will undoubtedly begin negotiations with the Omani side in order to reach a joint protocol,” he said.
Such oversight “will naturally not mean restrictions”, he said, rather, “they are intended to facilitate and ensure safe passage and to provide better services to ships passing through this route.”
Oman has yet to report any such negotiations. Its foreign minister said last month his country was “working intensively to put in place safe passage arrangements for the strait of Hormuz”.
Under international law, the critical waterway is open to international shipping, but Iran has effective halted most traffic through the strait and recently passed plans to impose tolls on ships.
Argentina has expelled the Iranian embassy’s chargé d’affaires, ordering them to leave the country within 48 hours, after Tehran criticised Argentina’s designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “terrorist organisation”.
Argentina’s foreign ministry declared Mohsen Soltani Tehrani persona non grata and said Iran had made “false, offensive and unfounded accusations against the Argentine Republic and its highest authorities”.
In a statement released by its embassy in Uruguay on Wednesday, Iran criticised Argentina’s decision to declare the IRGC a terrorist organisation as “illegal and unfounded” and warned the move would damage bilateral relations.
Iran also said Argentine president Javier Milei, a Trump and Israel ally, and foreign minister Pablo Quirno were “siding with the aggressors” in a “clear violation” of international law.
Argentina’s foreign ministry said Thursday it would “not tolerate insults or interference from a state that has systematically failed to comply with its international obligations and that persists in obstructing the progress of justice”.
The UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper convened a virtual meeting of more than 40 countries on the strait of Hormuz crisis on Thursday, in which officials from every continent discussed possible ways to increase pressure on Iran to reopen the critical waterway.
“We’re so determined to see every possible diplomatic, economic and coordinated measure to get the strait reopened,” Cooper told reporters after the meeting, adding:
Iran’s reckless strikes are attacking international shipping, seeking to hijack the global economy. That’s affecting petrol prices and mortgage rates here in the UK, but also jet fuel across the world, fertiliser to Africa and also gas to Asia.
We’re clear that we need the diplomatic pressure, the economic pressure and also the work that’s being done separately by military planners on how to keep shipping safe for the long term, when the conflict concludes.
In a statement released after the meeting, the chair said that the areas of possible collective action include:
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Increase international diplomatic pressure, including through the UN, to send clear and co-ordinated messages to Iran to permit unimpeded transit passage through the strait of Hormuz and to comprehensively reject the imposition of tolls on vessels which seek to pass through.
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Explore co-ordinated economic and political measures, such as sanctions, to bear down on Iran if the strait remains closed.
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Work with the International Maritime Organisation to secure the release of thousands of ships and sailors trapped in the strait and get shipping moving again.
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Joint arrangements to support greater market and operational confidence.
A drone attack targeted the US diplomatic and logistics centre in Baghdad’s international airport complex on Thursday, two Iraqi security sources have told AFP.
“Two drones targeted the logistics support centre, causing a fire but no injuries,” one security source said, adding that one of the drones was shot down “behind the airport”. A second source confirmed the incident.
The airport complex houses an Iraqi military base as well as the US facility.
Trump urges Iran to make deal ‘before it is too late’
Donald Trump has shared footage on his Truth Social of the bridge strike near Tehran that killed two people and appeared to take US responsibility for the attack.
He warned there was “much more to follow” and urged Tehran to “make a deal before it is too late”.
The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!
As we reported earlier, strikes hit the B1 bridge between Karaj and Tehran on Thursday, which had already been hit around an hour earlier, Iranian state TV reported.
“The American-Zionist enemy once again targeted the B1 bridge in Karaj,” a city west of Tehran, state TV said earlier, adding that the first strike had caused two civilian casualties.
The Israeli Defence Forces previously told the BBC that they were unaware of the strike.
