Cruise Missile Strike on Aq Tekeh Khan Railway Bridge, Aq Qala

In the early hours of Thursday, 18 Tir 1405 (9 July 2026), the United States military launched a cruise missile strike against the Aq Tekeh Khan Bridge (پل آق‌تکه‌خان), a railway bridge located on the western outskirts of Aq Qala, Golestan Province, in northeastern Iran. The bridge forms part of the Gorgan–Incheh Borun railway line (راه‌آهن گرگان–اینچه‌برون), which connects Iran's national rail network to the Turkmenistan border and serves as a critical trade and passenger corridor — one that has assumed particular strategic significance for Iran during the ongoing US naval blockade of its southern ports.