Military operations in the Middle East continue, escalating tensions in the region and causing international concern. Military strikes and retaliation by both sides—the US and Israel on one side, and Iran on the other—continue to affect not only the countries of the region, but also the global economic situation.

Armenian News-NEWS.am presents below a brief overview of the main events that took place in the Middle East on Thursday night.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the US and Israel for a "long time." This was announced by the spokesman for the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Abolfazl Shekarchi.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran reported on the strikes on the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. The IRGC also targeted “a secret meeting of American flight engineers and fighter pilots in front of a US base in the UAE using ballistic missiles,” the IRGC added.

USS Abraham Lincoln continues to conduct operations and conduct carrier-based aircraft flights, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in the Middle East said Friday morning. As previously reported, the aircraft carrier is currently conducting combat missions in the Arabian Sea. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was surprised by the intensity of Iran’s retaliatory strikes against American and Israeli targets in the Middle East, Time reported, citing informed sources.

According to one of its sources of the publication, Hegsett appeared unexpectedly. US Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat, Connecticut), commenting on President Donald Trump's speech on the situation in Iran, stated that the US was losing its military campaign. US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy bridges and power plants in Iran if the latter does not agree to a deal.

"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" Trump wrote on Truth Social. He added that the new leadership in Iran "knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!"