Tehran unveils sinister banner of Trump family as US airstrikes hit dozens of Iranian targets in sixth night of new attacks

By MARK NICOL, DEFENCE EDITOR and WILLIAM HALLOWELL Published: 23:51, 17 July 2026 | Updated: 23:53, 17 July 2026 If ever there was a symbol of how far away America and Iran are from their short-lived ceasefire, this billboard is it. Portraits of Donald Trump, his wife and his children, behind US flag-draped coffins have been put up in Tehran's Palestine Square. The US President is at the top, wife Melania and daughter Ivanka below and then at the bottom are his other children Barron, Donald Jr, Tiffany and Eric with the White House in the background. It came as US missiles have struck Iran's bridges, railways and water facilities. Both sides traded blows in the biggest escalation of fighting since the US resumed its bombing campaign six days ago. Mr Trump followed through on his threat to target civilian infrastructure that is also used by the Iranian military. Washington hopes the attacks will cripple the regime's civilian infrastructure, forcing Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. In fresh comments, Mr Trump claimed the US is 'winning big in Iran' and that 'you will see the fruits of that labour very, very shortly'. Tehran unveiled a billboard depicting US President Donald Trump and members of his family above coffins draped in the American flag on Thursday The billboard includes a Persian sentence meaning 'blood for blood' and is hanging in Palestine Square in the Iranian capital It has been reported that a number of bridges were destroyed in the airstrikes. At least seven people were killed. US missile attacks hit the city of Bandar Khamir, on the coast of the Strait of Hormuz. And the US military's Central Command (Centcom) said it hit dozens of targets in its latest bombardments. The strikes also appeared to have collapsed a tower at Iran's Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman, a key trade route for landlocked, neighboring Afghanistan. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shared the image of the surveillance tower appearing to collapse. That image had circulated on social media via activists prior to Hegseth sharing it. Chabahar port, which Iran had been running with support from India, has been a repeated target of American airstrikes. Iranian state media acknowledged a third round of strikes on the facility without immediately acknowledging the tower's collapse. Separately, he has accused China of interfering in his 2020 election loss and alleged 'shocking vulnerabilities' in voting ahead of the US midterms. China denied the allegations and critics accused Mr Trump of sowing confusion in the run-up to November's mid-terms, which could see Republicans lose one or both houses of Congress. Mr Trump has long claimed the election was stolen from him, despite dozens of court cases finding no proof of widespread fraud.