New Delhi, July 16 -- TEHRAN - A hospital in Ahvaz was forced to evacuate 211 patients on Thursday as United States forces struck targets across a wider swath of Iran than at any previous point in the conflict, reaching cities in the country's north and interior for the first time, while simultaneously disabling an oil tanker attempting to reach Kharg Island with Hellfire missiles. Iran responded by striking American military installations in Kuwait and Bahrain and launching drone attacks toward US positions in northern Iraq.

The strikes on Khorramabad and Semnan, confirmed in broad terms by Western reporting and Iranian state media, represented a significant geographic shift from the southern port-city campaign that has defined the US a...