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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early Thursday that American forces completed another round of strikes against Iranian military targets, marking the twelfth consecutive night of operations aimed at degrading Tehran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM said the strikes, completed 10:30pm local time, targeted Iranian “maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and air defense assets.”
Hours earlier, the command announced that US forces had begun the latest wave of attacks “to reduce Iran's ability to threaten commercial vessels transiting regional waters,” an operation that CENTCOM deemed successful after targeting “dozens of Iranian military sites on land while resuming a blockade against Iran at sea.”
The latest strikes come as military exchanges between Washington and Tehran continue to intensify, raising concerns over maritime security and global energy supplies. The Strait of Hormuz, located between Iran and Oman and through which roughly a fifth of the world's crude oil passes - including 90 percent of Iraqi oil exports - has become the central flashpoint to reassert dominance and redefine global maritime transit and global energy passage.
To date, CENTCOM “has redirected nine commercial vessels and disabled one to prevent ships from entering or departing Iranian ports,” as part of its ability to ensure safe and toll-free transit for vessels through territorial waters under international law, a prerogative that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) objects to.
The IRGC issued a statement on Thursday claiming that three oil tankers attempted to pass through what it described as a mined route south of the Strait of Hormuz "at the instigation of the US military," reporting that one of the tankers caught fire after an explosion, while the other two turned back.
The IRGC reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz falls "under our control" and warned that "as long as US aggression continues in the region, it will remain completely closed, and no oil tanker will enter or leave,” having threatened in the past that any vessel attempting to transit the strait without coordinating with Iran would face the same fate.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump warned that for every commercial vessel targeted by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, the US would strike "a bridge or power plant" in Iran.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded with what they described as an "eye for an eye" policy, warning that if Iran cannot export its oil, no country in the region will be able to do so.
The renewed military escalation has further strained hopes for diplomacy after Tehran and Washington resumed exchanging strikes earlier this month, despite a ceasefire understanding reached in June that had briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.
