US launches another strike on Iran, explosions reported near nuclear facility

The United States has launched another round of attacks on Iran while the country was holding a state funeral procession for its late Supreme Leader.

The strikes took place around midday local time on Thursday (July 9), targeting several locations in Iran's southern coastal province of Bushehr. The province is home to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, where Russia's state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom is overseeing the construction of additional reactor units.

According to Iran's state news agency IRNA, US forces carried out attacks on multiple locations across Bushehr province around noon on Thursday. A regional official said areas surrounding the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant were among those affected. The official also reported that a coastal jetty sustained damage.

However, it remains unclear whether the nuclear facility itself was the intended target of the latest strikes.

Meanwhile, Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that at least 14 people were killed in overnight US strikes across five Iranian provinces on Wednesday. The dead reportedly include a member of the naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In retaliation, the IRGC launched missile and kamikaze drone attacks on US military bases in three Middle Eastern countries.

Citing local sources, Mehr reported that residents in Bushehr province heard multiple explosions by Thursday afternoon following overnight exchanges of attacks between the two sides. Bushehr hosts a commercial port, a civilian nuclear power plant, and several key military installations.

Rosatom is currently constructing two new units at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. The facility was also reportedly damaged in a series of US and Israeli strikes following attacks on Iran in February.

Following those attacks, Moscow withdrew its personnel from the site. However, Russia is planning to gradually return its workers beginning in the middle of this month. Russian officials said the phased return would depend on the security situation after the US and Israeli strikes.

The US military said it carried out approximately 170 strikes across Iran over the past two nights. According to the US, Wednesday night's operation targeted around 90 military sites, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance equipment, missile and drone storage facilities, naval assets, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran's coastline.