14 Killed in U.S. Strikes on Iran as Ceasefire Hangs in Balance
Two days of U.S. airstrikes against Iran have killed at least 14 people and left 78 injured, Tehran's Health Ministry said on Thursday (July 9, 2026).
"Of the injured, 47 are still hospitalised and the rest have been discharged after receiving medical care," Hossein Kermanpour, the Ministry's Head of Public Relations, posted on X.
The United States launched new airstrikes early on July 9, and Iran retaliated by targeting Gulf countries in an exchange of fire that threatened an interim ceasefire deal intended to end the war in West Asia. Back-and-forth attacks, including a day earlier, have repeatedly strained the ceasefire, but Thursday's appeared larger, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar.
U.S. President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signalled the end of a fragile ceasefire and threatened to escalate the conflict if they did not stop. This raised concerns that the region could tip back into a full-blown war, engulfing several countries and potentially halting energy shipments through the strait, a critical artery for the global economy.
The U.S. military's Central Command reported hitting some 90 targets across Iran, releasing black-and-white footage of strikes on an airport runway and missile launchers. The U.S. said the strikes aimed to "further degrade" Iran's ability "to threaten freedom of navigation" in the strait, through which a fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas passed before the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28.
Attacks on ships—and the threat of them—have virtually halted traffic in the waterway during the conflict, causing oil prices to skyrocket and raising costs on many basic goods, including food, far beyond the region.
Iranian state media reported explosions in several locations, including Bushehr, home to Iran's nuclear power plant complex, and southern port cities. In Khuzestan Province, at least three people were killed on Thursday, state media reported. In Iranshahr, authorities said a strike killed a firefighter at an airport. These fatalities followed the deaths of at least nine members of Iran's armed forces in Wednesday's strikes. The timing and identities of other deaths remained unclear.
For the first time since April, U.S. strikes also appeared to target Iranian bridges. State media reported a strike on a railway bridge in Golestan Province, and the Revolutionary Guard said two bridges were attacked on the route to Mashhad, where officials plan to bury the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday.
