Bahraini civil defense rescuers work in the rubble of a residential building believed to have been struck by an Iranian drone in Muharraq, Bahrain, on June 28, 2026. (Credit: Bahrain Police Media/Handout via Reuters)
The United States struck scores of targets in Iran, including the railway line between Tehran and Mashhad, hours before late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was due to be buried in the eastern Iranian city.
The attack ahead of the burial in Khamenei's hometown came on a second consecutive day of tit-for-tat barrages launched by the two sides, testing a fragile ceasefire as the foes battled over the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Here are the latest developments:
Iran targets Gulf neighbors
Explosions were heard over the Bahraini capital of Manama on Thursday morning, and air raid sirens sounded for a third time after Iran's military said it had targeted sites in the Gulf kingdom as well as in Kuwait and Qatar in retaliation for U.S. strikes.
According to Iranian state media, the military said that "in continuation of the attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran's army on U.S. bases in the region," it had targeted a Patriot missile interceptor system in Kuwait, an early warning system in Qatar and fuel tanks in Bahrain with "a large number of various types of army kamikaze drones."
Earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had struck "key infrastructure and facilities" at U.S. bases in Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain.
AFP journalists heard blasts in Bahrain's capital Thursday morning, and Kuwait said it was responding to hostile missile and drone attacks.
In Qatar, which has played a key role in mediating between the United States and Iran in recent weeks, residents received an alert warning of an elevated threat level, the first since the start of an April cease-fire between the two countries.
Khamenei's coffin lands in Mashhad
A plane carrying the coffin of the late Iranian supreme leader landed in Mashhad on Thursday ahead of his burial, state media reported.
Official news agency IRNA shared footage of the Mahan Air flight taxiing at the airport after landing.
The burial will be the final act of a multiday funeral, after Iran's leader for more than three decades lay in state in Tehran before being processed through the Iranian capital and the holy Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala.
Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28 in the U.S.-Israeli strikes that began the Middle East war.
Iran says 14 killed in two days of US strikes
Two days of U.S. strikes against Iran have killed 14 people and injured 78, Tehran's Health Ministry said Thursday.
"Of the injured, 47 are still hospitalized and the rest have been discharged after receiving medical care," Hossein Kermanpour, the Ministry's head of public relations, posted on X.
Iran's Tehran-Mashhad railway suspended
Train service between Tehran and Mashhad has been suspended after U.S. strikes, state TV reported Thursday, hours before Khamenei was due to be buried in the holy city.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways blamed "a criminal attack by the U.S.-Israeli enemy" on the route and said it had dispatched repair teams, the state broadcaster reported.
Earlier, Iran's Revolutionary Guard accused the United States of targeting "two bridges in the eastern provinces leading toward Mashhad in an effort to overshadow" Khamenei's funeral, state TV said.
US says it hit 90 targets in Iran
U.S. military officials said Wednesday they struck about 90 Iranian military targets in their latest round of attacks, targeting air defense systems, missile and drone storage sites, and other assets.
The United States "completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz," U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted on X.
Iran says US strikes on civilian infrastructure a 'gross war crime'