The U.S. military announced on Sunday that it had completed, for the second consecutive day, a new wave of strikes against dozens of targets in Iran, stating that it remains prepared to ensure the continued freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement posted on X, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it targeted Iranian military air defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile capabilities, drones, and small fast-attack boats using fighter aircraft, U.S. naval vessels, one-way attack drones, and one-way unmanned surface vessels, the latter being employed for the first time.
Earlier, CENTCOM said its forces had begun launching additional strikes against Iran at 9:00 p.m. GMT, aimed at further degrading Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The command added that the strikes were ordered by President Donald Trump to hold Iranian forces accountable.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported preliminary accounts of explosions in parts of Bushehr Province, while Iranian state television said blasts were heard in Qeshm, Jask, and several locations west of Bandar Abbas.
Mehr also reported that one person was killed and four others were injured in a U.S. airstrike targeting a water pumping station in the Iranian city of Mahshahr.
According to CNN, citing the U.S. military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired on commercial vessels as they transited the Strait of Hormuz, while U.S. forces intercepted and shot down an Iranian cruise missile and a drone.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Muscat talks held on Saturday focused on the management of the Strait of Hormuz. However, it accused the United States of preventing progress on the issue by exerting pressure on Oman.
A U.S. official also told Axios that approximately 20 commercial vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours in coordination with the U.S. military, while several other ships passed through the waterway independently, without U.S. coordination.
AFP
