Overview
- CENTCOM announced a new wave of strikes on Wednesday, July 15, including a roughly 90-minute operation around 6 a.m. that hit coastal defense systems and cruise-missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb.
- The strikes followed a series of night attacks on Iranian military targets and came as the U.S. reinstated a maritime blockade on traffic to and from Iranian ports.
- U.S. Central Command said more than 20 Navy ships and hundreds of aircraft are operating in the region as part of the effort to protect shipping and degrade the systems used in recent attacks.
- The IRGC said it struck U.S. military targets in Bahrain and Kuwait and Gulf states reported heavy air-defense activity, with Kuwait saying it intercepted six missiles and 33 drones and Jordan reporting three rockets shot down.
- The campaign was prompted by alleged Iranian-linked attacks on seven commercial vessels that left nearly a dozen crew members killed, wounded, or missing, and it raises the risk of wider regional escalation and further disruptions to global shipping.