US military forces struck at least one railway bridge in northeastern Iran’s Golestan province on July 8-9, hitting a piece of infrastructure that sits at the crossroads of two of the world’s most strategically important trade corridors. The bridge near Aqqala connects Iran to China and Russia through both the International North-South Transport Corridor and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
It’s the first reported US infrastructure strike since a ceasefire was established on April 8, 2026.
What happened and why it matters
The Aq Tekeh Khan Bridge is a critical node in a rail network that links Xi’an, China to Tehran in roughly 10 to 15 days, offering an overland alternative to maritime shipping routes that have become increasingly unreliable thanks to sanctions and regional conflict.
The strike is part of broader US military operations responding to Iranian attacks on maritime shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil passes daily. Iranian state media described the incident as an attack from “enemy projectiles,” though no casualties were immediately reported.
