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As renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran has entered a seventh day with no signs of letting up, the Pentagon appears to be sending more forces to the region. The move comes as the conflict took a sharp turn overnight, with both sides carrying through on threats to hit infrastructure targets . That marks a major change from the previous tit-for-tat barrages as the two sides continue to struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.

“The Trump administration notified Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes to the country ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran,” Axios reported , citing three U.S. and Israeli officials.

“Israeli officials say the U.S. wants to send several dozen more refueling planes in the coming days, bringing the number of planes to the same level it had at the beginning of the war,” Axios added. “Israeli officials say the U.S. military prefers operating the refueling planes from Ben Gurion Airport, because other air bases in the region are more exposed to Iranian attacks and less safe for U.S. planes. At the moment, the Iranians are still deterred from launching attacks on Israel, because it will likely trigger a massive retaliation.”

This move comes after Israel placed a limit of 20 on the number of tankers at Ben Gurion Airport due to the impact all those jets were having on passenger air service operations. There are currently about 30 KC-46 Pegasus and KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jets at the airport. There had about 75 refuelers and cargo planes there during the height of Operation Epic Fury.

It remains unclear how that issue will be resolved, however, boosting the number of tankers in Israel will certainly give the U.S. greater flexibility in being able to refuel aircraft attacking and surveilling Iran. As we noted yesterday , there was a concern that moving aircraft around to other bases farther away could cause sortie rates and durations for receiver aircraft missions to suffer in a sudden crisis.

Scoop: The Trump administration notified Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes to the country ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran, three U.S. and Israeli officials said. My story on @axios https://t.co/EcVDTCUq5z

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) July 17, 2026

In addition, more combat jets appear to be headed back to the Middle East. According to online open-source flight trackers, at least 12 F-16 Fighting Falcons are heading to Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. Whether this is a plus-up or a routine rotation is unclear, but either way it shows that the U.S. is continuing to add assets to the region.

Meanwhile, as we have noted in earlier reporting , the U.S. has already returned F-22 Raptors that were flying out of Ovda Air Base in Israel back to the United States. Other aircraft, such as A-10s and F-15Es, have also returned home from or have been replaced in the CENTCOM region. So clearly there is a lot of shifting of aviation assets taking place even amid current operations.

Going for GOLD: 4 flts of 3x "SP" F-16CJ (TABOR11,21,31,41) are inbound to Muwaffaq Salti AB, Jordan (OJMS) from Spangdahlem AB, Germany (ETAD). 4x KC-135R/T "GOLD" team tankers are up to support the movement.

This #Coronet East ( #CE097 ) returns the ftrs from the 480th Squadron… pic.twitter.com/IkL6HKkrOe

— Aux OSINT (@AUX_OSINT) July 17, 2026

Video of Massive US airforce airlift activity above Europe today towards bases in the Middle East in particular the transfer of many fighter jets to Jordan and Israel.

Somethings up… pic.twitter.com/TDze87BpnY

— WarMonitor (@WarMonitor3) July 17, 2026

Friday afternoon, CENTCOM announced a new wave of strikes on Iran.

“CENTCOM launched a round of strikes against Iran at 3 p.m. ET today for the seventh consecutive night,” the command stated on X. “The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities at the Commander in Chief’s direction.”

CENTCOM launched a round of strikes against Iran at 3 p.m. ET today for the seventh consecutive night. The strikes are designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities at the Commander in Chief's direction.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 17, 2026

Last night, American forces struck several bridges and energy plants in the southern part of the country, according to Iranian media . In retaliation, Iran hit several targets across the region, including what Kuwait says is a desalination plant, another step up the escalation ladder. In this arid part of the world, countries rely heavily on desalination plants to provide potable water.

US targets in Iran tonight:

• A total of 5-6 bridges in Hormozgan province were targeted:

• Chabahar maritime tower was targeted (again) and destroyed by the US

• A railway station, west of Bandar Abbas

• Civilian airport in Iranshahr, southeastern Iran pic.twitter.com/DT4f2uP9M7

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 17, 2026

Officials in Hormozgan province, where Bandar Abbas is the capital, say six bridges were hit in the latest attacks, along key transport routes linking the city with surrounding towns, Al Jazeera reported . Bandar Abbas, which has a key naval base on the Strait of Hormuz and is frequently targeted, was also reportedly struck again .

The attacks appear to be isolating Bandar Abbas and other parts of the south along the Strait, which has been a key flash-point. Iran claims control of the strategic chokepoint while the U.S. says it remains under international auspices .

Former CENTCOM commander Joseph Votel told us that while it “may be possible” that the U.S. is preparing for a ground invasion of southern Iran, “I don’t really think that is what this is about. I think our kinetic targeting is principally focused on elimination of IRGC capacity to influence the Strait of Hormuz or attack our partners in the region.”

Friday morning, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) declined to comment on the claims that it struck bridges, referring us to its X post from the previous night.

“U.S. forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” the command wrote. “This was the sixth consecutive night of U.S. strikes against Iran. At the Commander in Chief’s direction, CENTCOM is further degrading Iranian military capabilities and holding Iran accountable for recent attacks on commercial shipping.”

Several videos emerged on social media showing the destroyed and damaged bridges.

WATCH: A long line of tankers near a bridge that the US struck in Iran https://t.co/qzJAzSV0Zj pic.twitter.com/ZnddfKI51U

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) July 17, 2026

American strikes tonight hit three important road bridges near the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran.

A fuel truck was passing through one of the bridges at the moment of the attack, causing the vehicle to get struck and catch fire. pic.twitter.com/8j7py2JRGs

— Status-6 (War & Military News) (@Archer83Able) July 16, 2026

Bridges in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Khamir in Hormozgan province appeared heavily damaged after US strikes, aerial footage published Friday by IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News showed. Iran said at least five bridges, a railway junction near Bandar Abbas and the… pic.twitter.com/d0aBCPqHUv

— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) July 17, 2026

CENTCOM on Friday did acknowledge destroying the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower.

It was “part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the command stated on X. “The destruction of the tower directly degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members. Furthermore, the strike protects freedom of navigation in regional waters for all vessels, except for ships attempting to violate the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran.”

On July 16, U.S. forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower, part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial… pic.twitter.com/CgBNvgOFf9

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 17, 2026

Meanwhile, as we noted earlier in this story, officials in Kuwait said one of the country’s power and water desalination plants “was attacked as a result of the Iranian aggression…leading to a fire and damage to the plant’s facilities and several electricity generating units.”

“The fire is now under control and repairs are ongoing,” the Kuwait government added.

Kuwait announces one of its power and water desalinization plants "was attacked as a result of the Iranian aggression…leading to a fire and damage to the plant's facilities and several electricity generating units." The fire is now under control & repairs are ongoing. https://t.co/MrFcwkeTHr pic.twitter.com/LoxTCM4v92

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) July 17, 2026

Officials in Bahrain said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks on Friday.

“The General Command of the Bahrain Defense Force announces that Iran is continuing its systematic, hostile approach through its attacks,” the Bahrain Defense Force stated on Instagram . “The General Command clarifies that, with strong will and high combat readiness, the air defense systems with Bahrain’s defense force, intercepted and destroyed a number of treacherous Iranian air strikes today, Friday, July 17, 2026. The General Command assures that all its weapons and units are at the highest readiness and on defensive readiness to protect the kingdom.”

Bahrain’s air defenses intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial threats on Friday

The army condemned Iran’s targeting of civilians and private property as a violation of international law

The Bahrain Defense Force says all units remain at the highest level of… pic.twitter.com/2bXmA5HUh2

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) July 17, 2026

Footage of a coalition PATRIOT SAM battery fighting off a major Iranian ballistic raid on Bahrain earlier tonight. pic.twitter.com/Tp6KEZyBjo

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) July 17, 2026

There were also claims from Iran that it again struck Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar , the largest U.S. installation in the region. The IRGC Aerospace Force claimed it destroyed several aerial refueling jets as well as radars, however, it provided no visual evidence. When we asked about the claim, CENTCOM declined comment.

In the 15th wave of Op. Nasr 2, the IRGC Aerospace Force carried out a heavy surprise attack on the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, completely destroying a long-range radar system and several US strategic aerial refueling aircraft, while several others sustained severe damage. pic.twitter.com/TJkl8P1OB4

— Press TV (@PressTV) July 17, 2026

Satellite imagery emerged on social media purporting to show the destruction of two hardened storage facilities and a warehouse at the Zayed Military City in Abu Dhabi. The scale of the damage appears to show what could be the results of an Iranian missile or drone strike.

UAE authorities, however, chalked it up to a mishap.

On Monday, UAE authorities claimed “firefighting teams of the UAE armed forces dealt with a fire which broke out in one of the warehouses of the Zayed Military City,” according to Khaleej Times . “The fire was caused by the burning of some wood and old ammunition, the country’s Ministry of Defense reported.”

Sentinel-2L imagery and enhanced satellite imagery from @SoarAtlas show that two hardened storage facilities and a warehouse at 24°29'44.87"N 54°58'57.10"E inside Zayed Military City in Abu Dhabi were completely destroyed.

The scale of the damage points to an Iranian missile… pic.twitter.com/NJEAv1hBA4

— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) July 17, 2026

Iran struck eastern Syria on Friday, Iranian state media ​and a Syrian military source said, Reuters reported . It was the first ‌known attack by Tehran on Syrian territory since a regional war erupted earlier this year.

The IRGC said it attacked a U.S. special operations ​command center at al-Tanf in Syria in retaliation for the ​killing of Iranian soldiers in Iranshahr, state media reported .

However, the U.S. in February, CENTCOM said it had withdrawn from the facility at the border of Syria, Jordan and Iraq.

IRGC Launches Surprise Attack on Enemy in Syria's Al-Tanf Region

The IRGC conducted a surprise attack on the enemy special operations command center in the Al-Tanf region of Syria in retaliation for the blood of martyred Iranian soldiers from the previous night in Iranshahr. pic.twitter.com/vVkvKTBJv1

— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) July 17, 2026

CENTCOM declined to comment when we asked about it, but minutes later posted a denial on X of any American casualties.

“CLAIM: Iranian forces claim they attacked al-Tanf Garrison in Syria and captured or killed American troops in the process. FALSE,” the command stated. “FACTS: No U.S. troops in the region have recently been killed or captured.”

CLAIM: Iranian forces claim they attacked al-Tanf Garrison in Syria and captured or killed American troops in the process. FALSE.

FACTS: No U.S. troops in the region have recently been killed or captured. pic.twitter.com/gIBgq1HYnK

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 17, 2026

CENTCOM declined to say if any U.S. troops had been killed or injured in any overnight attacks. According to the Pentagon’s casualty website , there have been 14 troops killed and 427 wounded since the launch of Epic Fury Feb. 28, but no recent deaths.

Six troops were killed in a drone strike on a base in Kuwait in March and six aircrew were killed when their KC-135 aerial refueling tanker reportedly collided with another over Iraq about 10 days later.

The Department of Defense has updated its official casualty figures for Operation EPIC FURY, reporting 13 additional wounded in action (WIA), including 10 U.S. Army and 3 U.S. Navy personnel.

The increase follows a week of increased medical evacuation activity from the region,… https://t.co/mXsQvI3Bmn pic.twitter.com/Yox11cJ5nx

— TheIntelFrog (@TheIntelFrog) July 17, 2026

The latest round of strikes came after President Donald Trump promised to strike infrastructure and the Iranians promised to retaliate .

“We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night,” Trump proclaimed in an interview with Fox News on July 15. “We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”

PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Ultimately, we'll hit energy targets in Iran. Next week comes the bridges. We're going to knock out all of their power plants. We'll knock out all of their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate” pic.twitter.com/CwbiDxHcwx

— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 14, 2026

Last night, Trump claimed “…we are winning big in Iran and you will see the fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”

Trump: "We are winning big in Iran" pic.twitter.com/adHnYHGmO0

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 17, 2026

Amid the renewed fighting, the number of transits in the Strait of Hormuz reached a three-week low, according to a MarineTraffic.com post on X, falling to eight yesterday, down from 15 the day before.

Meanwhile, the per barrel price of Brent crude hit a new high for the past 30 days on Friday, reaching almost $87 .

Hormuz traffic reaches three week low

MarineTraffic data indicate confirmed crossings through the monitored Strait of Hormuz zone fell to eight on 16 July, down from 15 a day earlier and marking a three week low. Seven of the eight transits followed the Iranian route, with no… pic.twitter.com/mEXVxsx40d

— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) July 17, 2026

Meanwhile, a new threat to oil exports from the region is looming. Iran has asked the Houthi rebels of Yemen, one of its main proxies, “to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure,” Reuters reported , citing three sources. “The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies.”

As we have previously explained , a Houthi shut down of the Bab el-Mandeb (BAM) strait, a narrow stretch of water between Yemen and Djibouti, would choke off a flow of oil exports from Saudi Arabia, especially to the east, and from southern Gulf states west , exacerbating the above-mentioned spike in oil prices. Having both straits closed at once is something of a ‘sum of all fears’ scenario for the global energy marketplace.

Iran asked the Houthis to stand ready to close the Red Sea gateway. ‘That has the potential to severely exacerbate what is already the worst energy supply disruption in history.’ Commodities and energy editor Simon Webb on Reuters World News https://t.co/cuyI7h2PSe pic.twitter.com/k6TYgVoHOJ

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 17, 2026

It is unknown whether the U.S. and Iran will return to the bargaining table as both nations careen to a resumption of all-out war. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates when warranted.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The post U.S.-Iran Fight Heats Up With Mutual Strikes On Infrastructure Targets appeared first on TWZ .

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Director James Cameron is in a bit of a tough spot in his career, having devoted two decades to his three Avatar blockbusters. He was contemplating pivoting to a smaller drama not too long ago, but he eventually clarified that it wouldn’t be his immediate next project following Avatar: Fire and Ash . He intends to continue the blockbuster sci-fi franchise, but only if he can find a way to reduce costs on future installments, given that the second and third films cost around $400 million each. He has also handed two other sci-fi franchises over to other filmmakers. The more influential of the two, the Terminator franchise , has been on a constant decline. But it’s unlikely that either Cameron or the industry will give up on it. There’s also a chance that Cameron may revisit one of his passion projects, which he handed over to Robert Rodriguez some years ago.

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Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft returned spectacular images of a near-Earth asteroid following a super-close flyby on July 5, but heated debate was needed before teams signed off on the daring attempt.

When images of the asteroid Torifune arrived on the morning of July 6 Japan time, Makoto Yoshikawa and his team at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) got two surprises at once. Torifune turned out to be a contact binary, in which two chunks of rock have come together under gravity, and the returned images were also larger than hoped.

"We did not imagine such a contact binary ," Yoshikawa, former mission manager of Hayabusa2 , told scientists gathered at the Asteroids, Comets and Meteors conference in Poznan, Poland, on July 10. "Originally, we didn't think we could have such a very big image. Maybe we will take a very small one, but the image was much larger than we expected."

The asteroid Torifune as seen by Hayabusa2's Mid-Infrared Camera during the July 5 flyby. (Image credit: JAXA) The double surprise was the payoff of months of debate between science and engineering teams, and a last-minute proposal that alarmed some of the scientists it was meant to serve. In the end, the flyby was so close as to be at the very edge of what the aging spacecraft was designed to conduct.

Hayabusa2 launched in December 2014 and rendezvoused with the asteroid Ryugu four years later. The spacecraft collected samples and delivered them to Earth in 2020 , completing its primary objectives. JAXA then made plans for an asteroid flyby and a rendezvous with the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031.

Usually for flybys, the closest distance is 100 kilometers (62 miles), Yoshikawa said, but in Hayabusa2's case this would not be close enough to gather good images. Hayabusa2 was designed for rendezvous and proximity operations, including hovering, correcting and landing — not for a high-speed pass at 5.3 kilometers per second (3.3 miles per second). Its cameras were also not designed for high-speed slewing.

According to Yoshikawa, science team members pushed back. At a distance of 100 kilometers, Hayabusa2's cameras would barely resolve the asteroid 's global shape. Engineering responded with a proposal of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). Science said that was acceptable, but the team kept pushing. Eventually, engineers confirmed they could get to within 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) of the asteroid's center. "Science people were very happy, because they could have a nice photo," Yoshikawa said.

Then, just one month before the flyby, extended mission team leader Yuya Mimasu proposed going even closer. "Yuya Mimasu said the closest distance should be 800 meters," Yoshikawa recounted. "Some science people said 'No, it's too dangerous,' and a very heated discussion started."

One major issue was the unknown size and dimensions of Torifune and the safety of the spacecraft. The team had assumed a worst-case asteroid size of 1,400 meters by 400 meters (4,600 by 1,300 feet) based on ground-based observations. A pass 800 meters (2,625 feet) from the center of the target would sit just outside that exclusion zone. The spacecraft's optics had also been affected by dust from sampling Ryugu. The final navigation analysis put the targeting error ellipse at around 200 meters (656 feet). "The distance fixed is 800 meters," Yoshikawa said, "but this is quite a big challenge for us."

Hayabusa2 detected Torifune on June 19. The spacecraft used ground-based guidance up to three hours before the flyby, before switching to onboard guidance. "This is quite new," Yoshikawa said. "We developed software for this, and we sent it to the spacecraft."

The result was the stunning, up-close imagery of the dual-lobed Torifune, captured by the probe's Optical Navigation Camera Telescope (ONC-T). But all four of Hayabusa2's science instruments returned data. The Thermal Infrared Imager (TIR) captured nine seconds of thermal imaging between 09:29:50 and 09:29:59 GMT on July 5, just a second before closest approach, independently confirming the contact binary structure in heat emission.

A size comparison between asteroid Ryugu, which was visited by Hayabusa2 in 2020, and its next target, 1998 KY26. (Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser. Asteroid models: T. Santana-Ros, JAXA/University of Aizu/Kobe University) The Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) and laser altimeter (LIDAR) also got data, with the latter delivering what Yoshikawa described as possibly the first successful LIDAR ranging measurement during an asteroid flyby. But while the most urgent 25 MB of data was downlinked, teams will need to wait months for the rest of the 300 MB of total science data. Hayabusa2's ion engine system restarted on July 9 to begin the cruise toward two Earth flybys in 2027 and 2028 and will fire for around four months. Only after this can the rest of the data be sent to Earth .

Yoshikawa explained that the Torifune flyby was more than just a bonus milestone and photo and science op. The successful super-close flyby means that "JAXA has acquired the technology to collide spacecraft with a small celestial body," he said in his closing remarks at ACM, drawing a parallel to NASA's DART mission . "This flyby mission can be said to serve as a demonstration of the fast reconnaissance concept in planetary defense ," verifying the ability to characterize an unknown asteroid rapidly — a capability that could provide crucial information ahead of an impactor mission.

This is not the end for Hayabusa2. The ultimate destination for the spacecraft's extended mission is the tiny asteroid 1998 KY26 , a roughly 36-foot-wide (11 m), rapidly rotating rock with which it is scheduled to rendezvous in 2031.

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Quick facts

What it is: The collision-prone galaxy cluster MACS J0553.4-3342

Where it is: In the constellation Columba

When it was shared: July 2026

Around 100 years ago, Albert Einstein made an audacious prediction about space. The frequently right (but occasionally wrong) physicist theorized that, just as the curved lens of a magnifying glass bends light to increase an object's apparent size, massive celestial objects can curve the very fabric of the universe with their gravity — causing distant sources of light to bend, warp, and appear magnified as their rays pass through the region on their way to Earth.

Today, this phenomenon — called gravitational lensing — has been confirmed through dozens of telescope observations, and is a crucial tool that observatories like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) use to probe the light of the oldest, faintest galaxies in the universe. And in this newly released JWST image of a tumultuous young galaxy cluster, Einstein’s gravitational funhouse effect is on full display.

In the foreground, two bright white points of light ringed with white halos signify the gravitational center of MACS J0553.4-3342, a gargantuan collection of bound galaxies located in the constellation Columba (the dove). These two white beacons are massive elliptical galaxies, each wreathed in their own sub-cluster of smaller galaxies, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA). And the two clusters are not getting along.

Studying the galaxies’ light as it appeared roughly 4.4 billion years ago, astronomers can tell the clusters are in the messy process of merging together. The two principal elliptical galaxies have already slammed through each other once, and now sit at a distance of around 1 million light-years apart (that’s about 10 Milky Ways lined up in a row). Eventually, that gap will close as the massive galaxies swoop back toward each other, finally combining into one.

A full-size view of JWST's observations (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, S. Fujimoto) But the real jewels in this galactic trove are hidden in the contorted, orange arcs of light that bookend the cluster on either side. Here, the magnifying effect of gravitational lensing is acting in full force — allowing JWST to detect the light of several faint galaxies from less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

Three bright dots in the arc on the left are actually three repeated images of a single galaxy, according to ESA. The trippy effect appears several times throughout the image, with each elongated orange streak cracking open a warped window onto an ancient corner of the universe that would otherwise be impossible to see.

Through observations like these, scientists using JWST have discovered that the oldest stars and galaxies in the universe have grown larger and faster than our leading theories of cosmology predict should be possible. Using one cosmic oddity to uncover another, this gravitational lens could keep astronomers busy for decades to come.

See more space photos of the week:

'Human minds should not go through this'

The Artemis II crew recalls the unreal moment when Earth disappeared

Hidden structure in 1st Vera Rubin image

First-light images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveal a 163,000-light-year stream of stars emanating from a nearby galaxy.

JWST peeps the 'Eye of God'

A spectacular James Webb telescope image reveals intricate structures inside the Helix Nebula.