US strikes Iranian missile facilities, citing threat to shipping

Iran retaliates against US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, other Gulf bases

Ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Musandam, Oman, on Wednesday. [Reuters]
Ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Musandam, Oman, on Wednesday. [Reuters]

The United States and Iran have in effect abandoned their end-of-war MOU and continued armed conflict for a fifth consecutive day.

US Central Command said Wednesday it struck Iranian cruise missile facilities, further degrading Iran's ability to attack civilian commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM announced on social media platform X that it had "conducted morning airstrikes targeting Iran," adding that "operations were completed at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time." It said the strikes "further degraded Iran's ability to threaten civilian commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz."

CENTCOM said the roughly 90-minute operation used precision-guided munitions to target Iranian coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch facilities on Greater Tunb Island.

Iranian state media, including the IRNA news agency, reported explosions near the southern port of Bandar Abbas, on Qeshm Island, and at the port of Bandar Imam Khomeini. State media also reported new US airstrikes near Iran's only civilian nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

Mohammad Mozaffari, the governor of Bushehr province, said "the enemy — the United States — attacked three locations in Bushehr on Wednesday."

Iranian military authorities announced that seven soldiers were killed in a US missile strike on a military barracks in Bampour, near Iranshahr in the country's southeast. The Iranian government said the death toll from five days of US airstrikes has risen to 30.

Iran also launched retaliatory strikes Wednesday against US military bases in the Gulf region. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted the US Fifth Fleet stationed in Bahrain.

Bahraini forces said they intercepted multiple Iranian projectiles early that morning, criticizing Iran for "continuing systematic hostilities through criminal attacks targeting civilians."

Kuwait's military also said it intercepted Iranian attack drones, while Jordan's armed forces announced they had shot down three Iranian missiles.

The IRGC said in a statement that "the retaliatory operations of Iran's fighters will continue," and that the Strait of Hormuz "will remain closed until the United States' malicious actions are completely halted."

The IRGC warned that "since the enemy has used its pirates to block the world's oil and gas export routes, they should expect that other oil and gas export routes benefiting the United States and its allies will also be blocked."


eyre@heraldcorp.com