WANA (Jul 09) – The United States launched a cruise missile strike early Thursday targeting the Aq-Tappeh Khan railway bridge in Aqqala County, Golestan Province, a strategic link on the China–Turkmenistan–Iran rail corridor used for trade between China, Russia, and Iran.

 

The bridge is located on the international China–Kazakhstan–Turkmenistan–Incheh Borun railway route, which enters Iran through its northeastern border and connects Gorgan to Tehran. The route forms part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), extending from Xi’an to Tehran.

 

According to the report, at least 65 freight trains traveled from China to Iran via the corridor last year. Following the maritime blockade of Iranian ports, foreign media reported that rail traffic on the route tripled.

 

The report also states that Russia began transporting goods to Iran through the same railway corridor in November 2025, leading analysts to describe the strike as more than a conventional military attack.

 

The attack marks one of the deepest U.S. strikes inside Iranian territory since the start of the conflict. Since the ceasefire, U.S. operations had primarily focused on military targets in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, making the targeting of infrastructure near the Turkmenistan border a notable shift.

 

Iran has previously repaired damaged rail infrastructure in a short period. During attacks on April 7, 2026, six railway bridges in Tehran, Alborz, Qom, Isfahan, Zanjan, and East Azerbaijan were targeted. Iranian engineers restored all six bridges and resumed railway operations in less than 96 hours.

 

According to the latest announcement by the head of Iran’s Railway Company, engineers restored one of the damaged railway lines near Mashhad in less than 13 hours after the latest U.S. attack, and train services have resumed on the repaired line. Work on the second line is expected to be completed within hours.