Iran says it is suspending commitments to interim deal with U.S. as the two exchange attacks

Published 18 July 2026 · india

The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday (July 18, 2026) as an Iranian negotiator said Tehran had

The United States and Iran exchanged strikes aimed at infrastructure and military targets on Saturday (July 18, 2026) as an Iranian negotiator said Tehran had suspended its commitments under the interim deal with the U.S. — snapping another fragile thread as the war shows no end in sight. Also read | West Asia war updates on July 18, 2026 The battle over the Strait of Hormuz intensified in a conflict increasingly focused on control of the essential waterway that previously carried a fifth of the world's crude oil. The widening strikes threatened civilians and services to them, while the global economy again was on alert. The U.S. Central Command said early Saturday (July 18, 2026) that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.” The U.S. has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago, and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister, told state TV. Kuwait sees the most striking damage The most significant damage on Saturday (July 18, 2026) occurred in Kuwait, when Iran struck a water desalination plant and an oil facility, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Both declined to provide locations.

The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days in the tiny desert nation that depends on desalination for 90% of its drinking water. Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital. Iran targets several West Asian nations The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stepped up its warning that countries hosting US forces should be “prepared to receive a corresponding response,” according to Iran's state TV. Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan's state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom's air defence systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day and in Saudi Arabia in the morning, according to their governments. Iranian officials say recent U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds in Iran. The U.S. military acknowledged that several more of its service members were injured. Iran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic after the war started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on February 28.