US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that US forces destroyed a surveillance tower at Iran’s Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar on July 16, describing it as part of a maritime surveillance network used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline.

According to CENTCOM, the surveillance network had been used for decades by the IRGC to monitor commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The US military claimed the strike would degrade the IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on civilian merchant ships.

 

CENTCOM further said the operation was intended to protect freedom of navigation in regional waters, while maintaining what it described as the ongoing US naval blockade against Iran.

Separately, the US military has denied Iran’s claims of killing US soldiers in Syria, according to a CENTCOM post on X.

Iran said it had killed US troops stationed at a base in al-Tanf on the Syria-Jordan border. Syria said there’s been no Iranian attacks on the US base which US forces left in February.

IRGC commander says attacks will continue until calm returns to Hormuz

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Commander Seyed Majid Mousavi said on Friday that the Iranian attacks will continue “until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz”, Al Jazeera reported.

“In the system of calculations, the entire territory of Iran — from Tehran to the south — is one and the same. Effective and targeted strikes from across Iran against the enemy will continue until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz,” he said in a statement carried by Iranian state TV.

Iran says major roads reopened, traffic restored hours after US strikes

Iran’s Road Maintenance and Transportation Organisation said all major roads across the country remain open and traffic has resumed on sections damaged in overnight US strikes, according to Press TV. In a statement on X, the organisation said road maintenance teams restored traffic on affected routes, including several bridges in southern Iran, within 12 hours of the attacks.

It added that temporary bypasses had been constructed around damaged sections, allowing vehicles to continue using the affected roads. “Despite the enemy’s savage attacks on transportation infrastructure, all road routes across the country remain open and traffic is flowing,” the statement said.

Several military personnel injured in Iranian strikes: Kuwait

The Kuwaiti military said several personnel have been “wounded as a result of enemy drones targeting several facilities and camps affiliated with the Kuwaiti Army this morning, following the heinous Iranian aggression”.