АНУ-ын Төвийн командлал Ираны эрэг орчмын хамгаалалтын систем болон пуужингийн байгууламжуудад цохилт өгч, тус улсын боомтуудыг бүслэх шийдвэр гаргалаа.
АНУ-ын Төвийн командлал (CENTCOM) лхагва гарагт Ираны Greater Tunb арал дээрх эрэг орчмын хамгаалалтын систем, далавчит пуужингийн агуулах болон харвах талбайг чиглүүлэн 90 минутын турш нарийн цохилт өгсөн байна. Энэхүү ажиллагаа нь Ормузын хоолойгоор дамжин өнгөрөх худалдааны тээвэрт заналхийлж буй Ираны чадавхыг сулруулах зорилготой аж. Үүний зэрэгцээ АНУ-ын хүчин Ираны боомтуудыг чиглэсэн арилжааны хөлөг онгоцнуудыг буцаах замаар тэнгисийн цэргийн бүслэлтээ дахин эхлүүлжээ.
Ираны арми үүний хариуд сүүлийн өдрүүдэд Иордан, Кувейт, Бахрейн дахь АНУ-ын цэргийн байгууламжуудад нисгэгчгүй онгоц болон пуужингаар хэд хэдэн удаагийн дайралт хийснээ мэдэгдлээ. Тухайлбал, Иордан дахь al-Azraq бааз болон Кувейт дэх логистикийн төвүүд цохилтод өртсөн гэж Ираны тал мэдээлсэн бол тухайн улсуудын агаарын довтолгооноос хамгаалах хүчин зарим пуужинг устгасан байна. АНУ-ын зүгээс эдгээр мэдэгдлийн талаар албан ёсны тайлбар өгөхөөс татгалзжээ.
АНУ-ын Ерөнхийлөгч Дональд Трамп Ираныг хэлэлцээрийн ширээний ард суухгүй бол эрчим хүчний байгууламж болон гүүр зэрэг стратегийн ач холбогдолтой дэд бүтцэд цохилт өгөхөө анхааруулсан байна. Үүний хариуд Ираны Гадаад хэргийн яамнаас одоогийн байдлаар хэлэлцээ хийх төлөвлөгөөгүй бөгөөд улс орныхоо аюулгүй байдлыг хамгаалахад анхаарлаа хандуулж байгаагаа мэдэгдлээ.
Энэхүү сөргөлдөөн хурцдаж буйтай холбоотойгоор газрын тосны үнэ өсөж, бүс нутгийн аюулгүй байдлын нөхцөл байдал улам бүр ээдрээтэй болж байна. АНУ-ын зүгээс Ираны нутаг дэвсгэрт цохилт өгөхөөс гадна тэнгисийн цэргийн бүслэлтээ чангатгаж байгаа нь зургаадугаар сарын 17-нд байгуулсан харилцан ойлголцлын санамж бичгийн хэрэгжилт зогссоныг илтгэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday unleashed a new wave of strikes on Iranian targets. The attacks, on Iran’s Greater Tunb Island, came as the newly restored blockade on Iranian ports entered its first full day and the command began ordering ships headed to Iran to turn around. Meanwhile, Iran claims it damaged several U.S. military facilities in new rounds of missile and drone attacks in the region.
“CENTCOM launched precision munitions against coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island during the 90-minute wave,” the command stated on X. “The strikes further degraded Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.” The island, located at the western mouth of the Strait, sits about 30 miles south of the Iranian coast and about 50 miles northwest of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which also lays claim to it, along with the Abu Musa and Lesser Tunb islands that Iran seized in 1971.
Greater Tunb Island was a frequent target during Operation Epic Fury. A little more than two miles across at its widest point, it hosts a “vast network of underground bunkers,” created by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to the Israeli Alma Research and Education Center think tank. “These underground facilities are believed to be storing anti-ship missiles and other weapons threatening freedom of navigation and commerce through the Strait of Hormuz.”
In a subsequent X post, CENTCOM stated that since “restarting the naval blockade against Iranian ports 17 hours ago, U.S. forces have redirected 2 commercial vessels attempting to run the blockade. The U.S. military remains vigilant and prepared to ensure full compliance.”
In its announcement on Tuesday that the blockade had been reimposed, CENTCOM stated that there are “currently more than 20 U.S. Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East. American forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”
Control over the Strait has been at the center of most of the flare-ups of violence that have taken place after a shaky ceasefire was agreed to by the U.S. and Iran on April 8. They’ve often involved Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait followed by U.S. kinetic responses. However, these kinetic encounters have been intensifying over the past five days, leading President Donald Trump to order the resumption of the naval blockade on Iranian ports. It went into effect at 11:30 PM local time on Tuesday.
As we have frequently noted, the blockade was lifted on June 17 when the U.S. and Iran signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU provided a 60-day extension of the ceasefire to iron out an agreement to end fighting throughout the region, including Lebanon, prevent Iran from seeking nuclear weapons, end U.S. sanctions and resume the flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, among other points.
Iran, as we noted earlier in this story, said it carried out a number of retaliatory strikes on Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan as it has over the past five days. All three nations host an array of U.S. military facilities.
The Iranian Army’s public relations office said it “launched a seventh wave of drone strikes on U.S. bases in the region on Wednesday, targeting F-18 facilities and support infrastructure at al-Azraq in Jordan,” Iran’s official Mehr news outlet stated on Wednesday. The strikes “were part of ‘Operation Thunderbolt’ and followed six earlier waves of drone attacks on U.S. positions since the American violation of the ceasefire and the start of ‘brutal attacks’ on Iranian territory.”
TWZ cannot independently confirm Iran’s claims and CENTCOM declined comment.
“Jordan’s military intercepted three Iranian missiles,” The New York Times reported, citing a statement carried by the official Petra news agency. “The Kuwait Army said earlier that its air defenses were intercepting hostile targets, while Bahrain’s interior ministry said warning sirens had been activated. None of the countries have reported damage or casualties from strikes on Wednesday.”
However, images and videos have emerged online purporting to show damage at several installations in the wake of Iranian attacks over the past several days.
The following post on X uses satellite imagery from Iranian state media to claim damage to an anti-drone radar system at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan; however, its low resolution makes it hard to confirm that claim.
Video shared on social media and verified by The New York Times showed an Iranian drone hitting the area surrounding an already burning warehouse in Kuwait late on Tuesday night local time.
“The IRGC claimed that the warehouse in Mina Abdulla was a logistics and supply hub for U.S. forces in the region,” the publication noted.
Iranian officials also claimed that “seven members of the 388th Iranshahr Brigade, including permanent personnel and conscripts, were killed during a U.S. strike on one of the Iranian Army Ground Force bases in Bampur early on Wednesday,” according to the IRGC-connected Tasnim news outlet.
Located in southern Iran, Bampur is about 120 miles north of the Gulf of Oman. TWZ cannot verify these claims either.
This latest wave of strikes came after Trump on Tuesday warned that the U.S. would strike bridges and power plants in Iran “next week” unless Tehran returns to the negotiating table.
“We’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night,” Trump proclaimed in an interview with Fox News. “We’re going to hit them very hard the night after, and then next week it gets really bad for them, because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
The U.S. leader also rescinded his threat to impose a 20% toll on Strait of Hormuz transits.
“I was called by different people, different countries, kings and emirs,” Trump said Tuesday, shortly after announcing the fee reversal. “And they’ve said, ‘We’d love to do it a different way. We’d love to invest in the United States with billions and billions of dollars. I like that actually because I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the Strait or for any other strait.”
Trump, as we reported yesterday, has also again raised the specter of a strike on a very hardened Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, saying it is ripe for a “nice big fat shot right in the front door.” You can read more about that in our deep dive here.
Iranian officials on Wednesday reacted to Trump’s statement about attacks on bridges and power plants, saying that: “Wherever the Americans strike, our Armed Forces will respond in the same manner.”
In addition, the Islamic Republic has no intention of returning to the bargaining table, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told Iranian media on Wednesday.
“We currently have no plans for negotiations and remain focused on defending the country,” Baghaei told reporters.
While Trump and Iran are ramping up the rhetoric, there is also tremendous global and domestic pressure on the American leader to refrain from expanding the fighting. In just one example of that playing out, the per barrel price of Brent crude jumped from a recent low of just over $75 a barrel on July 13 to more than $84 a barrel this morning as the attacks are intensifying.
Meanwhile, the MarineTraffic maritime tracking organization reported a slight uptick in Strait of Hormuz transits yesterday. However, the outlook for future traffic is grim given the unfolding security situation, including the renewed blockade, the organization posited.
Trump also faces domestic headwinds, with the November mid-term elections fast approaching and the conflict is unpopular among American voters.
Still, the fighting rages on, and the fact that the U.S. Navy is once again forcing ships away from Iran is a significant step back up the escalation ladder given that the now tattered MoU called for the blockade to end. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates when warranted.
Contact the author: howard@twz.com
