Commercial vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, June 30, 2026. (ISNA)
The United States and Iran traded new strikes on July 9 that killed several people in the Islamic Republic as Iranian authorities prepared for the burial of longtime supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran said it had resumed its attacks targeting U.S. assets in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, with the renewed hostilities, sparked by tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, threatening a return to full-scale war.
This was the second day in a row that the decades-old foes exchanged attacks, with Iran’s health ministry saying the U.S. attacks across both days had killed 14 people and injured 78.
The fighting came with Iran preparing to bury Khamenei, who was killed alongside close family members on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic on Feb. 28.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the U.S. attacks targeted civilian infrastructure, including railway bridges, and described the strikes as a “gross war crime.”
It called the U.S. administration “evil and psychopathic” and accused it of “obscenity, lies, and military aggression.”
The latest strikes killed three people and wounded several others on the outskirts of Ahvaz in Iran’s southwest, the country’s official news agency IRNA reported, quoting an official.
U.S. military officials said the strikes hit approximately 90 Iranian military targets, including air defense systems, missile and drone storage sites.
Iran’s army said it had targeted a Patriot missile interceptor system in Kuwait, an early warning system in Qatar and fuel tanks in Bahrain with drones, as part of its attacks on U.S. bases in the region.
Iran’s Guard Corps accused the United States of an “effort to overshadow” Khamenei’s funeral with its attacks on the railway bridges, which led to the suspension of rail services.
After five days of funeral ceremonies in Tehran, the clerical hub of Qom and Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, a plane carrying the coffin of Khamenei landed in Mashhad on July 9 morning.
The farewells to Khamenei, who ruled Iran for over three-and-a-half decades, have offered some insights into the shape of the new leadership who have sought to put on a united front between political and military figures.
But there has so far been no sign of Mojtaba Khamenei who has communicated only through written statements since being named and, according to officials, was wounded in the Feb. 28 air strikes.
In a sign of the security tensions, at least one fighter jet escorted the plane carrying Khamenei’s coffin to its final burial in Mashhad, footage from the supreme leader’s website showed.
After the foes traded attacks on July 8, U.S. President Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was “over,” but left the door open to more talks and added any strikes would end quickly.
The Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil and gas corridor, remains a key point of contention with Tehran insisting on control of the strait despite it being open to free passage before U.S.-Israeli attacks sparked the conflict in February.
Late on July 8, while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the Iranian side had “called a little while ago,” and that they wanted “to make a deal so badly” while describing them as “sort of crazy.”
