US strikes Iranian military targets as Tehran claims attacks on American bases

The United States and Iran exchanged fresh strikes as tensions continued to escalate around the Strait of Hormuz, with Washington saying it had targeted Iranian military infrastructure and Tehran claiming retaliatory attacks on US assets in the region.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had carried out another round of strikes against Iran at 9 p.m. ET on July 20, Caliber.Az reports.

According to CENTCOM, US forces targeted Iranian military command centres, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defence systems. The command said the strikes were intended to degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

CENTCOM said commercial shipping through the strategic waterway was continuing and that, since early May, US forces had helped facilitate the passage of approximately 900 commercial vessels carrying 450 million barrels of crude oil.

“American forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable for unwarranted aggression toward civilian mariners seeking to freely and openly transit the strait,” CENTCOM said.

Iranian authorities, meanwhile, said the Iranian Armed Forces had launched retaliatory strikes against HIMARS rocket systems at a US base in Kuwait.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) later claimed that Iranian forces had destroyed a Patriot air defence system and attacked another air defence system and radar installations at two US bases in Bahrain.

The IRGC also said that Iranian forces had targeted a long-range radar station, a communications centre, satellite communications systems and a hangar housing US MQ-9 drones in Kuwait.

Iranian media separately reported that US forces had carried out overnight strikes on Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Sirik and Qeshm Island in southern Iran.

By Sabina Mammadli