The US Central Command announced on Thursday evening the start of a new wave of airstrikes against Iran , the fifth in a row, stressing that the operations aim to “continue to weaken Iranian military capabilities,” while the White House stressed that President Donald Trump remains open to a diplomatic solution despite the continued escalation.
CENTCOM said that US forces began a new wave of strikes against Iran at 2 p.m. Eastern Time (18:00 GMT), without disclosing further details about the targeted sites or the scale of the attacks.
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt confirmed that the US strikes came after Iran violated the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries on June 18, 2016, which, she said, stipulates that commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz should not be targeted. She added that President Trump “holds the Iranians accountable when they break the commitments they have made to the United States,” but that he “remains open to diplomacy.”
The new strikes coincided with Iranian reports of hearing three explosions west of Bandar Abbas, a city overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. The semi-official Mehr news agency reported that US missiles targeted the city, and Iranian media also reported raids on areas around Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island.
State television quoted the governor of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only civilian nuclear power plant, as saying that two explosions had occurred in the city, as part of what he described as “the continued aggression of the American enemy.”
The official news agency IRNA also reported “attacks on areas around Ahvaz,” with residents saying they heard heavy explosions for the second night in a row.
CENTCOM had announced earlier on Thursday that it had carried out strikes lasting about 90 minutes targeting coastal defense sites and cruise missile launchers on Greater Tunb Island, asserting that the goal was to undermine Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
This comes amid escalating military confrontation between Washington and Tehran, as the United States has continued for days to carry out strikes inside Iran, while Tehran responds by targeting what it says are American military facilities in Arab countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, while some of those countries announced civilian casualties and damage to civilian facilities.
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