The US Central Command announced that US forces have completed additional defensive strikes targeting multiple sites inside Iran, at the direction of President Donald Trump .
U.S. Central Command said the strikes targeted Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communications systems, and air defense sites across Iran. It added that U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy units used precision munitions against Iranian targets that it said posed a threat to U.S. forces and international commercial shipping transiting territorial waters.
The Central Command confirmed that these strikes were in response to what it described as “Iran’s continued and unjustified aggression,” stressing that US forces “remain vigilant, capable and ready.”
The announcement of the end of the strikes came shortly after statements by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in which he vowed a “strong and clear” attack targeting key Iranian facilities and military capabilities, along with imposing a strict blockade on ports to protect navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
In this context, US President Donald Trump, in remarks reported by Fox News, said that Iranian officials contacted him directly and asked him to halt the US bombing campaign. He added that US forces launched 49 Tomahawk missiles during the latest wave of strikes early Thursday morning, Iranian time.
Network correspondent Trie Yingst quoted Trump as saying that if Iran does not accept the American conditions to end the three-month-long war, he will “bomb them hard tomorrow evening.”
In contrast, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard denied the validity of Trump’s statements regarding Tehran’s request to stop the bombing, according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, considering these claims “strongly unacceptable and a cover to escape from war.”
Hegseth added that these strikes are intended to strengthen the diplomatic position and force Iran to choose between negotiating or facing military plans, stressing that a negotiating team headed by President Donald Trump is ready to conclude a deal, and that rejecting it will mean facing continued strikes.
In contrast, Tasnim news agency quoted an Iranian military source confirming that Iranian forces are fully prepared tonight, stressing that any American adventure or aggression will be met with an immediate and harsh response.
The source added that Tehran has proven that it will not leave any attack unanswered, threatening to strike new American targets and impose new field equations, and ruling out surrendering to threats.
Iran’s Supreme Joint Military Command (Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters) announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to all ships, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, saying that any ship attempting to pass through would be fired upon.
The U.S. military on Wednesday denied that any of its warships had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iranian state media reported initial reports that U.S. vessels near the strait had been targeted by missiles and drones launched by Iranian armed forces.
In a separate post on the “X” platform, the US Central Command said that commercial shipping traffic to and from the Strait of Hormuz continues, after the Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters in Iran announced the closure of the strait to all ships.
Iranian media reported on Thursday that Iran launched an attack on the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain in retaliation for recent strikes by the US military against the Islamic Republic.
The Mehr and Fars news agencies reported on Telegram that “in this wave of drone strikes, communications antennas and radar facilities of the Patriot system belonging to the Fifth Fleet were targeted.”
Following the sounding of the sirens, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior urged citizens and residents to “head to the nearest safe place.”
Kuwait also announced on Thursday that it had temporarily closed its airspace to flights starting at 4:50 a.m. (01:50 GMT), with flights being diverted to alternative airports, following the Iranian attacks in the region.
The Kuwaiti Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement that this precautionary measure “comes in light of the State of Kuwait being subjected to heinous Iranian attacks, and the potential risks this may pose to civil aviation in the region.”
Axios reported that Trump held a meeting in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday afternoon, attended by Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Cain, Special Envoy Steve Witkopf and other senior officials, where potential new strikes against Iran were discussed.
Hegseth stressed that what the military would do on Wednesday night was not intended to reignite the war, but rather “to strengthen our military interests and support our diplomatic position as well.”
The defense minister concluded his remarks to reporters by saying: “If we need to negotiate with bombs, we will negotiate with bombs, and we are very good at it. There is no one better than us in the world.”
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