Iran warns US of 'unforgettable lessons' as Hormuz conflict deepens

Dubai,UPDATED: Jul 18, 2026 22:58 IST

Iran's supreme leader warned on Saturday that the United States would face "unforgettable lessons" if it kept attacking the Islamic Republic, as fighting between the two sides continued with fresh strikes on infrastructure and military targets. He also called US President Donald Trump's signature "worthless and invalid".

The remarks came hours after a negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments under the interim deal signed about a month ago. The deal had been aimed at permanently ending the fighting, but the conflict has continued, with the battle over the Strait of Hormuz becoming a central front and raising concerns over civilians, essential services and the global economy.

The statement attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since the war began, was read out on state television after the United States and Iran again exchanged strikes. In the statement, Khamenei also warned of action not only from Iran but from its armed proxies in the region, which he called the "Axis of Resistance".

The US Central Command said early on Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes had hit "surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities". Soon after, Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television that the United States had violated its commitments under the deal and that Iran was "no longer implementing them". There was no new word on mediation efforts.

The most serious damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday was reported in Kuwait, where authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit. They did not disclose the locations. Several people were injured at the oil facility, while a fire at the desalination plant forced several power generation units offline. It was the second attack on a desalination plant in two days in Kuwait, which depends on desalination for 90 per cent of its drinking water.

The Kuwait Fire Force said several firefighters and a worker were injured while tackling two other blazes caused by Iranian strikes. Kuwait briefly shut its airspace because of missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital. Iraq said it shot down attack drones over Irbil, while Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom's air defence systems had brought down Iranian missiles. Air raid sirens also sounded several times in Bahrain during the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments. Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, accused Iran of war crimes for striking infrastructure and civilian facilities.

In Iran, state television reported that US airstrikes hit an electricity and desalination plant in the southern province of Hormozgan. IRNA reported that the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and that another desalination plant on the strategic island of Qeshm in the strait was damaged. Overnight strikes also damaged two tunnels and a bridge, disrupting a main highway towards Bandar Abbas, Iran's main port near the narrowest part of the strait. IRNA later said three bridges were hit on Saturday, including one on a route to Bandar Abbas.

Iran acknowledged "attacks on power infrastructure" during the US airstrikes for the first time on Friday, when its Energy Ministry urged people in southern provinces facing extreme heat to reduce power use, though it did not say what had been hit. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also stepped up its warning, saying countries hosting US forces should be "prepared to receive a corresponding response", according to Iran's state television.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people had been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes over the past three weeks, including eight people killed in a strike on a bridge on Friday. US officials said 13 more American service members, including 10 Army soldiers and three Navy sailors, had been injured since Monday, but gave no further details. Since the war began, 14 US service members have been killed and 427 wounded.

Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to shipping after the war began with US and Israeli strikes on February 28, pushing up oil prices and giving Tehran greater leverage in negotiations. Iran has said the strait should be under its sole control and that vessels passing through it should pay fees to Tehran, even though it has long been treated internationally as an open waterway. It has fired on ships in recent days, and crossings through the strait fell to a three-week low, according to an international shipping tracker. Trump has renewed threats to target power stations and bridges to pressure Iran to loosen its grip, while the US has reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports to stop its crude oil shipments. Although more energy from the region is now moving through pipelines, it is not enough to make up for the fall in shipping. Before the war, the US and Iran had been holding talks on Tehran's nuclear programme. Overall, Saturday's developments showed further escalation, with the interim deal under strain, fresh damage on both sides and the Strait of Hormuz remaining at the heart of the conflict.

With PTI Inputs

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