Breaking News: Iran’s Guards say two oil tankers ‘exploded’ in southern Strait of Hormuz
The United States began a new round of airstrikes early Monday targeting Iran after announcing the death of another American service member, and Iran fired missiles toward Jordan that risked widening the conflict into neighboring Israel.
Here is the latest
US Central Command says it successfully completed the ninth consecutive evening of strikes against Iran, July 19, at 10 pm ET.
The US military said Monday it ended its latest round of airstrikes targeting Iran.
The US military’s Central Command said it targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”
There was no immediate word from Iran on any casualties or damage from the attacks. Iranian state media reported explosions being heard in southern and northwestern Iran.
Rubio says Iran using Hormuz as leverage, calls on other countries to ‘step up’
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late Sunday that Iran is using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage in the ongoing Middle East conflict, adding that other countries needed to step up pressure to protect global shipping.
“It’s clear that Iran, at least some people in Iran, want to control the straits and hold that as leverage against the world,” Rubio told reporters ahead of traveling to the Philippines for a meeting of foreign ministers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The United States will do and continue to do what it needs to, to protect global shipping, but other countries need to begin to step up and provide, whether it’s hardware or finances, to help carry that burden,” he continued.
Iran Guards say targeted US planes at Jordan’s Aqaba airport
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Monday 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.
Iran’s Guards say two oil tankers ‘exploded’ in southern Strait of Hormuz
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that two oil tankers had exploded and been immobilised after attempting to transit what it described as an unsafe southern route through the Strait of Hormuz, alleging they had been encouraged by the US military to use the
passage.
The Guards said the waterway would remain unsafe as long as what it called US “aggression” in the region continued, warning that “this passage will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas.”
They told the U.S. military to prepare for a “punitive operation.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say Strait of Hormuz will not be safe for petrochemical products or “single drop of oil and gas” transit as long as US actions in region continue.
Trump says US hitting Iran ‘very hard’ to honor Americans killed
US President Donald Trump said Sunday the latest military strikes on Iran were being carried out in honor of US service members killed in recent days.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of the, probably three, it’s probably three great patriots,” Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington following the World Cup final.
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.”
France 24/AFP
