US military has completed a round of airstrikes in Iran after explosions heard in country's south

US military has completed a round of airstrikes in Iran after explosions heard in country's south

ESTHER DAVIS

The US military has completed a round of strikes in Iranwhich began on Wednesday evening, with explosions reported in the country's southern regions.

"US Central Command forces completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran's ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz," US CENTCOM said in a statement on X/Twitter.

"CENTCOM forces hit approximately 80 Iranian military targets July 7, including more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats, to impose heavy costs for Iran violating the ceasefire by attacking three commercial vessels navigating the Strait of Hormuz."

Early on Thursday morning, shortly after the explosions were heard in southern Iran, CENTCOM claimed responsibility for the strikes in a post on X, saying the objective was "to further degrade [Iran's] ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz."

Thursday's US strikes against Iran were slated to be greater in number than the ones carried out on Tuesday, a US official told Reuters. The strikes took place shortly after President Donald Trump declared that the Memorandum of Understanding with Tehran "is over."

Iranian semi-official news agency Mehr reported that air defenses were activated in southern Iran after explosions were heard in the cities of Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Konarak, and Chabahar.

Iranian state media, IRNA, reported that shrapnel from the US attacks struck a hospital and hit power lines in Chabahar, with the semi-official Nour News adding that the Iranian armed forces are preparing to launch a "massive attack" on US army bases in the region shortly.

US strikes targeted a maritime traffic control tower

Attacks targeted a maritime traffic control tower and depot in the port city of Chabahar, semi-official news agency Fars reported.

In another post on Truth Social, Trump reposted an X post which stated that "US strikes indeed targeted Iranshahr Airport in the southeastern Iranian city of Iranshahr," adding that the airport is "partially utilized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force."Local Iranian news reported that the US strikes on Bushehr didn't cause any damage to the nuclear power plant.

The US notified Israeli officials ahead of the attack on Iran, KAN reported.