The U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict is approaching the end of its fifth week with no end in sight, as U.S. and Israeli attacks on the under-construction B1 bridge in Iran's northern Alborz province on Thursday killed at least eight civilians and reportedly wounded 95 others.
According to reports by official news agency IRNA, the B1 bridge, located in the provincial capital Karaj, is one of the highest bridges in the Middle East at over 136 meters tall and among the most complicated infrastructure projects being undertaken in Iran. It was targeted twice with missiles on Thursday.
IRNA cited Qodratollah Seif, the province's deputy governor for political, security and social affairs, as saying that among those killed and injured were local inhabitants of the Bileqan village and travelers and families who had gathered in nearby areas for the Nature Day, a traditional Iranian holiday marking the end of the Nowruz festival period.
Seif added that there were no military activities in the areas surrounding the bridge, stressing that the structure was still under construction and not yet open to traffic, though it had been scheduled to be inaugurated in the coming days.
U.S. President Donald Trump posted a video on the social media outlet Truth Social which showed smoke rising from the B1 bridge, hours after threatening to bomb the country "back to the Stone Ages," warning of further destruction unless Iran comes to the table to end the five-week war.
Trump delivered a speech earlier on Wednesday in which he argued that the war -- which began after the U.S. and Israeli launched joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 -- was almost over, even as he threatened to bomb Iran "extremely hard" if it did not bow to his demands.
Condemning the attacks in a post on the X platform, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said, "Striking civilian structures, including unfinished bridges, will not compel Iranians to surrender." He added, "It only conveys the defeat and moral collapse of an enemy in disarray. Every bridge and building will be built back stronger. What will never recover: damage to America's standing."
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that it had carried out more than 20 airstrikes in and around Tehran and destroyed dozens of sites for ballistic-missile launches and storage.
Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on the same day that it had targeted and destroyed Amazon's cloud computing operation center in Bahrain in its first action against U.S. and Israeli "espionage" firms in the region in retaliation for the "assassinations" of Iranians.
It also said it had struck U.S. tech firm Oracle's data center in Dubai of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as seven U.S. and Israeli airbases, two U.S. steel companies in Abu Dhabi, an aluminum plant in Bahrain, factories operated by Israeli arms firm Rafael, and a hideout of U.S. troops near Bahrain's capital Manama, allegedly causing casualties among the U.S. forces.
The Dubai Media Office said it rejected the IRGC's claim of any attack on Oracle's data center.
Citing three sources familiar with recent U.S. intelligence assessments, CNN reported on Thursday that "roughly half of Iran's missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran's arsenal despite the daily pounding by U.S. and Israeli strikes against military targets over the past five weeks."
"The intelligence, compiled in recent days, also showed a large percentage of Iran's coastal defense cruise missiles were intact," said the report.
Following Spain and Italy, Austria's Defense Ministry has rejected "several" requests from the United States to use its airspace for military operations against Iran, the Austrian news agency APA reported on Thursday.
The continuing conflicted again saw oil prices climb sharply on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures for May delivery rose over 11 percent to close at 111.54 U.S. dollars per barrel.
US-Israeli attacks on Iranian bridge kills 8; Iran claims strikes on industrial facilities, data centers
