Shafaqna Pakistan: The United States launched two waves of strikes on Iran’s coastal defence systems and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran responded by targeting US military facilities in neighbouring countries, describing the confrontation as an “existential war” with the United States.
The latest escalation follows the collapse of a fragile ceasefire, fuelling fears of a return to full-scale conflict. Iran has again threatened to disrupt regional energy exports, further heightening tensions.
The conflict has intensified since Iran announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz late on Saturday. Ongoing military operations have also disrupted shipping through the strategic waterway, which previously handled around one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments. Brent crude settled at a one-month high of $84.95 per barrel on Wednesday.
According to US Central Command, the first wave of strikes began around 6 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT), targeting coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island. A second wave of attacks was launched about nine hours later against multiple locations across Iran.
US forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities,” it said in a statement, adding it also hit targets in Bandar Abbas, home to Iran’s largest port and key navy and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards facilities on the Strait of Hormuz.
“Earlier this morning, American forces struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a 90-minute wave,” the US military added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck US military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. The Guards said they targeted a gathering for US military personnel and a radar system at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait with a missile and drone attack.
Three US officials told Reuters that US strikes aimed at forcing open the strait are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the US would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.
The US military also said it disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward Iran’s Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. Since resuming a naval blockade against Iran on Tuesday, the US has redirected two ships and disabled another, the military said.
Iranian news media reported a series of explosions, mainly in coastal areas such as Bandar Abbas. Other explosions or projectile strikes were reported around the city of Ahvaz, just inland from the northern end of the Gulf, and Konarak, Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran.
Press TV reported at least two explosions in the central Iranian city of Khondab, about 250 km (155 miles) southwest of Tehran. Mehr news agency reported Iran activated its air defenses in Tehran to counter “hostile threats.”
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the US attacks struck near a hospital in Ahvaz that houses a pediatric cancer center, forcing the temporary evacuation of the hospital. Families have come out to the streets around the hospital to care for their children, IRIB said.
After the first wave, Tehran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf issued a statement declaring that Iranian security depended on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.
“We are in an essential and existential war with America,” Ghalibaf said.
The war has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where conflict restarted between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. In July alone, U.S. attacks have killed 35 people, Tasnim reported, citing a health ministry official.
source: Geo News
