The United States, on Thursday evening and Friday dawn, expanded its target bank inside Iran, in a new night of strikes that hit military and naval facilities from the south of the country to the Caspian Sea coast, including a headquarters for the naval force of the Revolutionary Guard in the northern province of Gilan.

Iranian media reported the killing of four people and injury of nine others in the strikes that included a number of provinces, as part of the thirteenth consecutive night of American operations inside the country.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces targeted military command centers, drone storage facilities, communications networks, coastal surveillance sites, and naval capabilities, aiming to reduce the Revolutionary Guard's threats to commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

It added that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to navigation despite recent Iranian attacks, and that commercial vessels continue to transit with US military support, noting the deployment of more than 50,000 US troops across the Middle East.

A screenshot from a video released by the US Central Command, which it says documents a precision strike targeting Iranian military capabilities on Thursday (AFP - CENTCOM)

In Tehran, reports spoke of activation of air defense systems in the east and northeast of the capital in two periods during the night.

The widest strikes were in the center of Ahvaz province in the southwest of the country. The deputy governor for security affairs, Waliollah Hayati, said four people were killed and five others injured in American missile strikes that hit areas near the city of Ahvaz, without specifying the targeted locations.

He added that sites in 12 cities in the province were attacked over about two weeks. The latest wave included the cities of Ahvaz, Al-Salehiyeh (Andimeshk), and Al-Omidiyeh (Omidiyeh), while local media reported hearing at least ten explosions in Ahvaz until around 3:30 a.m.

In Hormozgan province, the strikes targeted the city of Bandar Abbas, the provincial capital, and areas in the south of Qeshm Island belonging to it, in addition to the islands of Lark and Hengam, and the cities of Jask and Konarak facing the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media reports.

Smoke and flames rising after an explosion in Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province on Friday, according to a video circulated on social media (Reuters)

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard, reported two people injured in a strike that hit the 'Allahu Akbar Hill' area in Bandar Abbas. The director of the province's crisis management said the attack caused a temporary power outage in part of the city.

Tasnim said two American missiles hit the vicinity of Masen village on Qeshm Island, while local reports spoke of a flying object falling over the island, with preliminary assessments that it was a drone or another aircraft that was targeted, without official confirmation.

Qeshm Island includes naval facilities and assets, including unmanned boats that US officials say Iran uses to threaten ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Bandar Abbas is a major hub for transporting military equipment and commercial goods.

On the Caspian Sea coast, reports indicated strikes and explosions in Rasht and Bandar Anzali in Gilan province. The deputy governor of Gilan for political, security and social affairs said an American strike targeted the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard's naval force in the Zibakenar area, and damaged part of its equipment.

Zulfiqar ballistic missiles displayed in Azadi Square in Tehran on Friday (EPA)

In the west of the country, a local official announced the targeting of a site near the city of Khorramabad, the capital of Lorestan province, without specifying its nature. Local reports indicated hearing at least six explosions in the city, and official media reported two people injured in one of the attacks, along with explosions in the mountainous city of Borujerd in the same province. Reports also came of explosions in Piranshahr in the northwest.

In Isfahan province, the deputy governor for security affairs said a site in the city of Nain was subjected to an American attack without any casualties.

Iranian authorities also announced the targeting of a site outside Khondab city in Markazi province, near the Arak heavy water reactor, while local reports reported explosions in the city of Taft in Yazd province, and Firuzabad in Fars province near Shiraz, in addition to Jiroft in Kerman province in southeastern Iran.

Iranian reports also spoke of intercepting and destroying a Tomahawk missile in the skies of Kahnuj city in Kerman province, without independent confirmation of the account.

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