The US twice struck Iran’s coastal defenses and missile sites within a few hours on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of its ports, while Iran threatened to shut off more regional energy exports, saying it was engaged in an “existential war” with America.
Hostilities between the two nations have once again intensified since Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Military operations are also keeping ships from transiting the vital artery, which carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war.
Two waves of attacks
US Central Command said the military had attacked coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island starting around 6am EDT (11am BST), and had completed the wave of strikes within around 90 minutes. Nine hours later, Central Command reported a second wave of strikes.
“The strikes are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce. The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief’s direction,” Central Command said on X.
At 3 p.m. ET, U.S. forces launched operations for a second wave of strikes today against Iran. The strikes are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce. The…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 15, 2026Three American officials told the Reuters news agency that US strikes aimed at forcing open the strait are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the US would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.
The US military also said it disabled an unladen oil tanker attempting to sail toward Iran’s Kharg Island after it ignored multiple warnings, firing Hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack.
Following the latest round of strikes, Iran’s Mehr news agency said four locations around the city of Ahvaz came under attack, just inland from the northern end of the Gulf, as did Bandar Abbas, Iran’s principal port city on the Strait of Hormuz.
US projectiles also hit near Sirik and Qeshm in southern Iran, according to Iran’s semi-official media.
U.S. sailors conduct nighttime flight operations aboard USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) while transiting the Arabian Sea. pic.twitter.com/uzJcrfGFXO
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 15, 2026Iran claims hospital hit
Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported that the US attacks struck near a hospital in Ahvaz that houses a pediatric cancer centre, forcing the temporary evacuation of the hospital. Families have come out to the streets around the hospital to care for their children, IRIB said.
After the first wave, which Iran said hit a location on its Hengam Island in the strait, Tehran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf issued a statement declaring that Iranian security depended on maintaining what he called “Iranian arrangements” in the strait.
“We are in an essential and existential war with America,” Qalibaf said.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck US military targets in the region, including in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan.
“The enemy should not assume it can sustain the current course of the conflict and turn it into a war of attrition,” Revolutionary Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said, according to Iran’s Press TV. “Iran’s operations are currently focused on destroying US offensive military infrastructure in the region. The next phase will begin afterward.”
US President Donald Trump speaks at the Defence and Innovation Summit. (Picture: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)Trump sounding confident
Trump, though, struck a triumphant note, saying, “We’ll have Iran defeated soon. They’ll be defeated very soon.”
Speaking at a roundtable event at the Pennsylvania Defence and Innovation Summit, Trump also claimed the Iranians want to “settle so badly.”
“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Trump said US negotiators had been in touch with their Iranian counterparts to tell them “you better make a deal.”
Even amid the hostilities, there was a possible sign of goodwill. Trump said Iran had allowed an American who was “wrongfully detained” under the Biden administration in 2024 to leave the country.
“The United States of America appreciates this gesture of Goodwill by Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
With input from Reuters
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