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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — <\/span>The United States intensified its strikes on Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship the U.S. accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting U.S. allies in the region before dawn and warned its attacks may escalate. <\/p>\n Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East \u2014 and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> \u2014 have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded over 300 others. <\/p>\n Strikes also reached into areas around Iran\u2019s capital, Tehran, for the first time in this latest round of violence, showing a widening set of targets for the Americans. <\/p>\n When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic, a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring<\/a> far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations. <\/p>\n Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Iranian military\u2019s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, threatened that Iran could launch widespread attacks on regional infrastructure if the U.S. acts on President Donald Trump’s repeated warnings that America could hit Iranian bridges and power plants. <\/p>\n \u201cAll the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran\u201d should Trump\u2019s threat be carried out, Zolfaghari said.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder no circumstances and in no way will we allow America, as a foreign and extra-regional country, to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is Iran\u2019s invincible red line.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It also reported that American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran\u2019s ballistic missile production and space program.<\/p>\n Iranian media also reported strikes Thursday morning around the provinces of Hamedan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Lorestan, Markazi, and Sistan and Baluchistan. <\/p>\n On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight, further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. An attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz, targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran\u2019s main oil export terminal<\/a> in the Persian Gulf. After the ship \u201cignored multiple warnings,\u201d a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship\u2019s smokestack. <\/p>\n Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran\u2019s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.<\/p>\n Iran retaliated Thursday morning with missile and drone attacks on Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait, authorities in those countries home to U.S. forces said. There was no immediate acknowledgment of damage or casualties from the attacks. Kuwait reported a new round of incoming fire on Thursday afternoon. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi condemned an overnight drone attack on the city of Irbil in Iraq\u2019s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region. The drone, which authorities said had been intercepted, came during his trip to the U.S.<\/a> in which he said Iraq would work to disarm non-state armed groups, including those backed by Iran. <\/p>\n The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, as Iran attacks ships using a U.S.-controlled route through the vital waterway. <\/p>\n The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force<\/a>, but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. <\/p>\n The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel<\/a> on Thursday, more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.<\/p>\n