The US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has carried out fresh strikes on several targets in Iran, while Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced missile attacks on US bases in the region in response.
According to reports, an unnamed senior US official told media outlets that the IRGC had targeted two commercial vessels near the Strait of Hormuz with missiles on Tuesday morning.
Iran has not commented on the claim and has not accepted responsibility for the alleged attacks.
Meanwhile, CENTCOM said in a statement on X that its forces had completed a new round of strikes against Iran on Wednesday morning local time.
It said more than 80 targets had been hit with “precision-guided” munitions in response to recent attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM claimed that the strikes targeted air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and more than 60 small IRGC vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
The command said the objective of the strikes was to reduce Iran’s ability to continue attacks on commercial shipping in the strategic waterway.
CENTCOM also claimed that Iran had recently attacked three commercial vessels, including the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker Al Raqiyat, the Saudi Arabia-flagged oil tanker Wadian, and the Liberia-flagged Cyprus Prosperity.
The statement described the alleged actions by Iranian forces as an “unjustified” and “dangerous” violation of the ceasefire, saying they undermined freedom of navigation.
CENTCOM said US forces remained on high alert in the region and would hold Iran accountable if the agreement was not respected or violated.
However, the IRGC also issued a statement claiming that it had attacked US military facilities in response to CENTCOM’s strikes on 80 targets in southern Iran.
The IRGC said that, in its “initial response”, it had targeted 85 locations at US military facilities in the region.
According to the statement, the IRGC’s naval and aerospace forces carried out a joint missile and drone operation against important US military facilities at Salman Port, Bahrain’s Fifth Naval Base and Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base. It also claimed that a US MQ-9 drone attempting to interfere in the operation had been shot down.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters also said in response to the latest US strikes that Iran’s armed forces would deliver a “decisive response” to what it called US aggression and terrorist actions, adding that Tehran would not allow interference in the Strait of Hormuz under any circumstances.
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