As the US and Iran threaten to hold talks to reach a peace deal, the Middle East has been hit by airstrikes since late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
The bombings followed President Donald Trump’s decision to launch more strikes, due to his anger over the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which had not yet opened, and over Iran’s targeting of ships passing through the oil spill point.
Although he was present at the NATO summit, Trump indicated that the US would hit Iran hard in retaliation.
According to local media, explosions were reported in several Iranian ports, including Bushehr, Bandar Abbas and Sirik. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said that in response to this event they targeted US military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that US forces had struck nearly 90 Iranian military targets in the latest wave of attacks, while Tehran responded with attacks on US bases in the region.
According to the statement, the latest operations targeted “air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage facilities, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coast.” The new strikes came about 24 hours after a previous series of U.S. strikes, in which, according to CENTCOM, 80 other Iranian military targets were hit.
“CENTCOM forces completed an additional round of strikes against Iran on July 8 to further reduce Iran’s ability to attack merchant vessels and innocent civilian maritime personnel in the Strait of Hormuz,” the statement, which was released early today via X.
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As we reported yesterday afternoon, Trump said the attacks would “get a lot worse” if Tehran attacked the ships again in strait, after saying he thought the ceasefire was “over.”
On the other hand, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, reacted sharply to US President Donald Trump’s statements.
In a post on the social network X, Gharibabadi said that Trump’s comments, “from insulting the Iranian nation to threatening further attacks,” do not show strength, but are, he said, an admission of the failure of the US policy based on sanctions, pressure and threats. He added that this approach has failed to “bring the Iranian nation to its knees.”