On Thursday, the United States expanded the scope of its strikes on Iran to regions in the north and the vicinity of Tehran, after its operations in previous days focused on the coastline, islands, and military facilities surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, while disabling an oil tanker it said attempted to breach the naval blockade imposed on Iranian ports.

Tehran warned that the Strait of Hormuz represents a "red line that cannot be crossed," and a spokesperson for the Joint Staff operations threatened to target infrastructure across the region if the United States carries out President Donald Trump's threats to strike Iranian bridges and power plants.

The spokesperson said that "all infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel strikes of the Iranian Armed Forces" if Washington targets Iranian infrastructure, adding that the response would be broader and more destructive than previous attacks.

He added: "Under no circumstances and in no way will we allow the United States, as a foreign country from outside the region, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz. This is an Iranian red line that cannot be crossed."

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated that the latest waves of bombing targeted command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities.

Washington says the campaign aims to undermine Iran's ability to threaten commercial vessels and force it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media reported that the US strikes reached areas around the capital, Tehran, where air defenses were activated. They also reported attacks in Semnan province, which houses sites associated with ballistic missile production and the Iranian space program, marking an expansion of the geographic map of the attacks after they had been primarily focused on coastal areas and islands near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian media also reported explosions or strikes in the provinces of Hamadan and Lorestan in the west of the country, parallel to continued strikes on the coasts of the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, where Hormozgan is located off the Strait of Hormuz, and Khuzestan in the southwest, Markazi, and Sistan and Baluchestan in the southeast of the country.

A US fighter jet takes off from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush as it sails in the Arabian Sea (CENTCOM).

CENTCOM waves: CENTCOM said that US forces carried out two waves of strikes on Iranian military targets on Wednesday. The first wave targeted coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island.

It added that US forces later launched a second wave targeting sites in several cities and regions, including Bandar Abbas, which houses the largest Iranian port and key facilities for the Navy and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Strait of Hormuz.

The command stated that US forces bombed "Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities." In previous nights, US forces had targeted sites in the ports of Bandar Abbas, Bushehr, Chabahar, Jask, Konarak, and Abu Musa Island, as part of a campaign that extended from the Arabian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, focusing on military assets that Washington says Iran uses to monitor navigation and target ships.

Smoke and flames rise in the port of Chabahar off the Gulf of Oman after explosions at dawn on Thursday (Reuters).

Three US officials told Reuters that the strikes, which aim to force Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, are also intended to destroy Iranian military capabilities before moving on to operations they described as "more complex," without clarifying their nature.

On the ground, Iranian media reported at dawn on Thursday that explosions occurred in the port of Bandar Abbas, Rask, Chabahar, Qeshm Island, Konarak, and Sirik. They also reported strikes in the vicinity of Ahvaz and Khondab near Arak, in the center of the country.

State media reported that air defenses were activated in Tehran to deal with what it described as "hostile threats," while the IRNA agency stated that there were no immediate official reports of casualties in the capital.

An attack occurred near the Baqaei Military Hospital, owned by the IRGC in Ahvaz, and Iranian media reported the targeting of a center for treating children with cancer, which led to its temporary evacuation and the exit of patients' families to surrounding streets, according to the Iranian authorities' account. There was no US comment specifying whether the area or nearby facilities were included among the announced targets.

The Iranian army had announced the death of seven of its personnel in a strike that targeted the 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade barracks in Bampur, in Baluchestan province. It said that US forces launched 13 missiles at the site, and that the dead included recruits and career military personnel, vowing a "decisive response."

According to Iranian statements, more than 35 people have been killed and over 300 injured since the strikes resumed, while government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said that at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent days. No independent casualty toll was available.

The blockade paralyzes navigation: The expansion of the strikes coincided with the start of the implementation of the US naval blockade on ships heading to or departing from Iranian ports and coastal areas, at a time when shipping data showed a further decline in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Data from the Kpler platform showed that only nine ships crossed the strait on Wednesday, compared to 13 ships the previous day, and that most of them used the route close to the Iranian coast. No supertankers or liquefied natural gas tankers were observed crossing the passage during the first full day of the blockade.

According to the data, five empty ships entered the Gulf, including three small oil tankers and two grain carriers, while four ships carrying liquefied petroleum gas, coal, fuel oil, and fertilizers departed.

Ammunition is fired from an unspecified location during strikes that the US Central Command said targeted Iran (Reuters).

About 20 percent of global oil and gas shipments passed through the strait before the war broke out, but attacks on ships and mutual threats led to a sharp decline in traffic and prompted some tankers to turn off their tracking devices or delay their crossing.

CENTCOM said a US aircraft disabled the oil tanker "Pelma," which flies the Curacao flag, while it was empty and heading to Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal in the Arabian Gulf.

It added that the ship "ignored multiple warnings" during its attempt to breach the blockade, before a US aircraft fired Hellfire missiles at its funnel, disabling it and preventing it from continuing to sail to Iran.

The US command announced that its forces have redirected two ships and disabled a third since the blockade resumed. Washington says the restrictions target traffic associated with Iranian ports, while it will continue to support the passage of other ships that do not violate the blockade.

In contrast, Tehran maintains that the only way to reopen the strait is for the United States to adhere to the memorandum of understanding signed in June and to implement what it calls "Iranian arrangements" regarding defining ship routes and transit times.