DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday as their battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified.The region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the strait. The collapse of an interim ceasefire leaves no clear end in sight for the war that the U.S. and Israel began more than four months ago.The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”Kuwait said Saturday it was intercepting Iranian missiles and drones, while Iraq said it had shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said that the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain according to the government there.Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in Iran. The U.S. military also acknowledged that several more service members were injured.
Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started Feb. 28. That sent the price of oil soaring and gave Iran significant leverage in negotiations. The price of oil rose Friday above $86 a barrel, close to its highest level in a month, as crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker.
