(Iran strike. Photo by Premium Times)
Tuesday night was the eleventh night in a row that the US has attacked Iran.
Drone storage facilities, aircraft hangars, and military logistical infrastructure were among the major Iranian assets hit in the most recent series of strikes on X, according to CENTCOM’s announcement.
Although the Strait was completely open for all commerce until the US and Israel launched an unjustified war on Iran in February, CENTCOM stated that its goal is still to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Strait of Hormuz borders Iran and Oman, and Iran has used the threat of closing it, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes, as leverage in the ongoing war.
On Tuesday, two commercial ships attempting to pass through the Strait without Iranian permission were struck by projectiles allegedly fired by Iran and set ablaze.
The war has cost the United States approximately $37.5 billion, marking an increase of nearly $8 billion since the last estimate in May, War Secretary Peter Hegseth told lawmakers.
Hegseth also requested an urgent $87 billion from Congress for the Pentagon, telling the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that $67 billion of the requested funds is earmarked for operations in the Middle East.
The hearing, however, was repeatedly disrupted by anti-war protesters and ended in a heated exchange between the defence secretary and a senator.
According to CENTCOM, Iran’s continued attacks on commercial vessels passing through Hormuz have necessitated American military action.
The command stated that over the past three months, Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the international waterway vital to regional and global trade, warning that the attacks have endangered hundreds of mariners and undermined freedom of navigation.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has threatened to strike an Iranian underground nuclear site in the Pickaxe Mountain area in southern Iran, close to the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. Tehran responded by threatening to expand the war across the region should the US carry out the threat.
Iran had earlier retaliated against CENTCOM’s Tuesday night strikes by targeting US allies in the Middle East. Neighbouring Gulf states hosting US military bases, particularly Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, have been drawn into the recent exchange of strikes between the two countries.
Iran’s latest round of strikes targeted US facilities at Camp Doha in western Kuwait, with state media, as quoted by an international broadcaster, reporting that Iranian forces struck ammunition depots and ground forces command logistics equipment at the base.
Kuwait, which has come under daily Iranian strikes, has also begun rationing electricity after Tehran struck its power infrastructure.
