Bandar Abbas, Iran. The United States launched two waves of attacks on Iran’s coastal defenses and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran said it struck U.S. military targets in neighboring countries.
The escalation followed the collapse of a fragile truce days earlier and came as Iran threatened further disruptions to regional energy exports.
U.S. military operations
U.S. Central Command said attacks began at about 6:00 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT) against coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island. A second wave of strikes against multiple cities followed about nine hours later.
U.S. forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities, Central Command said. It said targets were also hit in Bandar Abbas, which hosts Iran’s largest port and facilities of the Iranian navy and the Revolutionary Guards on the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. military said the initial strikes on Greater Tunb Island lasted 90 minutes.
Three U.S. officials told Reuters that strikes intended to force open the Strait of Hormuz were also targeting Iranian military capabilities that the United States would seek to destroy before conducting more complex operations.
Iranian response
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck U.S. military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, in what Iran described as an “existential war” with the United States.
The Guards said a missile and drone attack targeted a gathering of U.S. military personnel and a radar system at Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait.
Iranian media reported explosions, mainly in coastal areas including Bandar Abbas. Explosions or projectile strikes were also reported around Ahvaz, near the northern end of the Gulf, and in Konarak, Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran.
Strait of Hormuz and shipping
Hostilities have intensified since Iran said late on Saturday that it had closed the Strait of Hormuz. Military operations have also prevented ships from transiting the waterway, which carried about one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, closed at a one-month high of $84.95 a barrel on Wednesday.
The U.S. military said it disabled an unladen oil tanker heading toward Iran’s Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into its smokestack. Since resuming its naval blockade of Iran on Tuesday, the United States has redirected two ships and disabled another, it said.
