US Completes Fresh Round of Strikes on Iran, CENTCOM Says, Extending a Near-Nightly Campaign

WASHINGTON - US Central Command said it had completed another round of strikes against Iran, the latest in more than a week of near-nightly waves that Washington says are intended to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The most recent wave, launched over the weekend, marked what CENTCOM described as the eighth consecutive night of American attacks. The command said the strikes were designed both to further weaken Iran’s capacity to menace merchant vessels in the strait and to punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces it blamed for an attack on US service members in Jordan.

Targets and tactics

CENTCOM said its forces used precision munitions to hit dozens of targets across multiple locations, describing them in successive statements as command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance posts, and naval capabilities along Iran’s coastline. Iranian media reported explosions near Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island and other southern areas. Earlier in the campaign, US forces struck Greater Tunb Island in the Gulf and, according to the command, deployed one-way attack sea drones for the first time.

The United States has also reinstated a naval presence to enforce what it calls freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the conflict.

Washington’s rationale

US officials have cast the operation as a response to Iranian attacks on commercial ships transiting the strait, framing it as an effort to protect civilian mariners. President Donald Trump, who ordered the strikes, has said an understanding reached earlier to end hostilities had collapsed and signaled the campaign could expand, with aides describing an open-ended timeline dependent on Iran’s conduct.

Tehran’s response

Iran has pressed its own attacks, launching missiles and drones at US forces and American allies across the Gulf. Air-raid sirens have repeatedly sounded in Bahrain — home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet — while Kuwait and Jordan have reported strikes and interceptions. Iranian air defenses have been activated over Tehran, and officials in the Islamic Republic have said they see no basis for negotiations while the strikes continue, warning of a broader offensive if the campaign persists. Tehran has claimed effective control of the Strait of Hormuz, an assertion CENTCOM has flatly rejected.

Amid the escalation, Iran released an American woman who had been detained since late 2024, a move Trump characterized as a goodwill gesture.

Mounting costs

The confrontation has been deadly on multiple fronts. American service members were killed in the attack in Jordan that prompted the latest US wave, while Iranian authorities and local officials have reported civilian casualties from US strikes in southern provinces. The near-closure of the strait has rattled energy markets and stirred fears of a wider regional war.

What to watch

With both Washington and Tehran signaling resolve, the immediate question is whether the campaign broadens further or gives way to a pause. Much appears to hinge on the strait: US officials have tied the operation’s duration to whether Iran halts its attacks on shipping, leaving the coming days pivotal to either de-escalation or a deeper conflict.