The US military has launched a series of strikes against Iran in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) has said.
“U.S. Central Command forces have begun launching a series of powerful strikes against Iran to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway,” CENTCOM said in a statement posted on the US social media platform X.
The US military later added that it struck more than 80 targets in Iran.
In a statement, CENTCOM said its forces carried out offensive strikes targeting Iranian air defense systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and more than 60 small boats belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in and around the strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top joint military command warned that the only safe route for commercial ships and oil tankers transiting the Strait of Hormuz is one designated by Tehran, while insisting it will not allow US interference in managing the strategic waterway.
The military also condemned US strikes as “blatant aggression” against Iran and warned that the country’s armed forces would deliver a “crushing response” to any American attacks.
Tensions escalate
