US, Israel plan weekend strikes on Iran energy infrastructure

The United States and Israel are planning a potential bombing campaign targeting Iran's energy infrastructure, with strikes possible as early as this weekend, CBS News reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to ⁠give the ⁠final go-ahead for the strikes, according to sources cited by CBS. The campaign would be one of ⁠the harshest yet against Iranian energy infrastructure during ​the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, ​CBS reported, adding that ⁠there ‌was ‌discussion about concluding ⁠the strikes ‌before financial markets ​open on Monday. A drone strike targeting gas vessels at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta raised fears Thursday of a widening U.S.-Iran conflict and potential threats to shipping through the Suez Canal. The war began in February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a bombing campaign in Iran that President Donald Trump said would last only a few weeks. A temporary cease-fire agreement in June collapsed amid renewed fighting over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway that Iran says it now controls. The latest ⁠strikes in Iraq and Egypt threatened to draw more Middle Eastern countries into the conflict after the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen declared a naval blockade last week on Saudi Arabia, threatening the alternative Red Sea route for its oil to Asia.