The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday that it has completed the latest (fifth) round of military strikes, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed to have brought down an MQ-9 Reaper drone.
In a post on X, CENTCOM said US forces “ended an evening wave of strikes against Iran at 9 p.m. ET on July 15. US forces struck Iranian command centres, air defence sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
The command responsible for operations in West Asia further said it used “precision munitions to hit targets in multiple locations, including Bandar Abbas".
Earlier in the day, US forces also targeted coastal defence and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island during a 90-minute wave, it said.
“The US military is holding Iran accountable at the commander-in-chief's direction.”
These latest rounds of escalation between the US and Iran were a direct result of the misadventure sought by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards after it attacked a Cyprus-flagged vessel near the Omani side of the Strait of Hormuz without any reason. Although mediators are pressing hard to end the current cycle of violence taking place in the region and affecting the global supply chain, neither side has confirmed that they are seeking any near-term solution despite the side-by-side negotiations.
Iran’s army says it targeted communications systems, a fixed radar site and fuel depots of the US military at Jordan’s Azraq Air Base using attack drones.
In a statement carried by the local news syndicate on Thursday, the army said the attack formed the ninth phase of its “Saeqeh” operation and was launched in response to recent attacks on Iran, including a strike on the Bampur barracks in Iranshahr that it said killed seven soldiers.
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