US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Monday that it successfully completed the ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, adding that its latest strikes targeted command centers and other military facilities in a bid to prevent Tehran from attacking vessels transiting the Hormuz strait.
“CENTCOM assets targeted Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the US military said in a statement posted to X.
Iranian state media reported Monday that US strikes hit several locations in Iran’s southern port city of Bushehr, home to the country’s only civilian nuclear plant.
“A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by American enemy’s projectiles,” said Bushehr governor Mohammad Mozaffari, as quoted by official state news agency IRNA.
US President Donald Trump said the latest military strikes on Iran were being carried out in honor of US service members killed in recent days.
Trump said, “We feel very badly,” when asked about the military fatalities, adding that those who died were fighting so that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
In response, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said that they had targeted US military aircraft stationed at Aqaba Airport in Jordan and caused “severe damage” to some of them, state media reported.
American heavy transport aircraft and command and control aircraft “were targeted with ballistic missiles, causing severe damage to a number of them”, the Guards said in a statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster.
Similarly, the Guards added they hit US military targets in Kuwait, including an early-warning radar system that was “completely destroyed”.
Iranian forces “completely destroyed a US early-warning radar system in a drone strike. In a separate attack, they struck an equipment and aircraft parts warehouse and an MQ-9 drone hangar at Ali Al Salem Air Base, setting several drones on fire,” the Guards said in the statement.
The Guards also said that two oil tankers trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz “exploded and were brought to a halt”.
“Late last night, two non-compliant oil tankers… attempted to enter and exit through what was described as the unsafe and hazardous southern route of the Strait of Hormuz, exploded and were brought to a halt,” the Guards said in a statement, according to the Tasnim news agency.
In Iran, US strikes overnight in northwestern Iran killed at least one person and wounded several more, state media reported.
“One person was martyred and several others were injured in a terrorist and aggressive American attack on an area southwest of Tabriz on Monday morning,” said Majid Farshi, head of crisis management of East Azerbaijan province, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
In Bahrain, explosions were heard in the Bahraini capital Manama on Monday morning after air raid sirens were triggered.
“The siren has been sounded, citizens and residents are urged to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place,” the Gulf state’s Interior Ministry wrote on X.
In Kuwait, Kuwaiti air defenses were “engaging hostile drone attacks” from Iran, the Gulf state’s military said Monday.
Economically, oil prices jumped at the start of Asian trading, amid growing concerns about disruptions to energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude rose to over $90 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate climbed to over $84 a barrel.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also reported a fire on board a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, about 15 kilometers northwest of Oman, without specifying the cause of the incident. (AFP)
