U.S. Completes New Wave of Strikes on Iranian Revolutionary Guard Targets
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Washington (Terror Monitor) — The U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it completed a new wave of strikes against targets belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday.
CENTCOM said the strikes targeted air-defense facilities, radar systems, maritime assets, facilities associated with Iran’s mine-laying capabilities and communications centers.
The U.S. military said the operation was carried out in response to what it described as Iranian attempts to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. forces deployed across the region.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News that American forces had also targeted Iranian radar systems.
Trump said the U.S. strikes were carried out in response to an unsuccessful Iranian attempt to lay naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz and the launch of eight missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan.
The exchange of intense attacks between the two sides, following several weeks of relative calm, has once again increased tensions across the region.
The latest strikes represent the first major military action between the two sides since July, ending a period during which both sides had largely refrained from direct attacks while showing little apparent interest in resuming negotiations.
Iran Claims Retaliatory Strikes
Iran responded by claiming that it had targeted U.S. military installations in Jordan and Iraq. Iranian state statements also said Bahrain was targeted.
The IRGC claimed that a large number of U.S. troops were killed in the attacks in Jordan. However, two U.S. officials told Reuters that initial assessments indicated there were no American casualties.
Jordan’s Armed Forces said its air-defense systems engaged 13 ballistic missiles that entered Jordanian airspace. According to the military, 10 of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed in flight, while three landed in remote areas.
Kuwait’s military also confirmed early Wednesday that it had responded to missile and drone attacks.
Iran Reports Civilian Casualties
Iranian state media reported Wednesday that 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in separate U.S. strikes in southwestern Iran.
The Iranian Red Crescent said a residential house in the coastal city of Kuhestak, in Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz, was hit by a U.S. missile while a wedding ceremony was reportedly taking place there.
The incident allegedly killed four people, including a four-year-old child, and injured around 68 others.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the incident could not be separated from what he described as a broader series of acts of “injustice.” The spokesperson also referred to a February attack on a girls’ school in Minab, which Iranian authorities said killed 160 people.
Authorities in Khuzestan province separately reported that seven people were killed and eight wounded in U.S. missile strikes at three locations across the province.
U.S. officials did not directly comment on reports that a wedding ceremony had been hit. However, CENTCOM spokesperson Tim Hawkins said: “The U.S. military never targets civilians.”
The claims regarding the reported civilian casualties and the circumstances of the strikes could not be independently verified.
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