The U.S. military completed its ninth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting military command centers, air defenses, coastal-surveillance sites, maritime capabilities and missile and drone infrastructure, U.S. Central Command said Sunday.
CENTCOM said the operation began at 10 p.m. ET on July 19 and also struck communications networks used by the Iranian military.
The command said the attacks were intended to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial vessels and civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian media reported explosions in several cities early Monday. The semi-official Tasnim news agency said U.S. missiles struck Tabriz, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Mahshahr and Bandar Imam Khomeini.
The latest attacks came as the number of confirmed U.S. military deaths in the renewed fighting rose to three.
The U.S. military said Sunday that a service member was killed Saturday in northern Iraq during the controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian attack drone.
Two other U.S. service members were killed Friday in Jordan, while another was listed as missing. CENTCOM said unidentified remains had been found at the attack site and were undergoing examination.
The latest death brought the total number of U.S. military personnel killed since the war began to 17, with more than 420 others wounded.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had carried out a surprise strike against what it called the enemy’s special-operations headquarters in Syria’s Al-Tanf region.
Iranian state television also reported that Tehran had launched a drone attack on U.S. military assets at Kuwait’s Al-Adiri camp and Ali Al Salem Air Base. Both locations had already been targeted during attacks on U.S. forces and allies in the Gulf over the past week.
Kuwait said a desalination plant was struck for a second consecutive day, causing a fire. The government described the attack as a direct strike on vital civilian infrastructure.
Ships in the Strait of Hormuz
(Photo: AFPTV / AFP)
Concerns over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz also intensified after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center received a report that a vessel was on fire near Oman’s coast. The cause had not been verified.
Oil prices rose 3% Monday, with Brent crude futures climbing above $90 a barrel, their highest level since June 11.
The attacks followed CENTCOM’s eighth consecutive wave of strikes, which targeted Iranian coastal-surveillance and air-defense facilities.
The United States and Iran have intensified their attacks as an interim ceasefire agreement signed a month ago has unraveled and the struggle over control of the Strait of Hormuz has deepened.
“We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did it in honor of” the U.S. service members killed since Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters after returning from the World Cup final.
The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain also warned that it had information suggesting Iran could seek to target unspecified locations in central Manama and urged Americans to remain vigilant.
First published: 02:34, 07.20.26