The U.S. launched airstrikes against Iran overnight, and Iran retaliated against U.S. bases in the region, as the Iran War entered its 139th day on Thursday.
CENTCOM said it targeted “Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities.” Defense analysts note that many of the sites CENTCOM has claimed to target in recent days are located deep beneath mountains made of granite that may not be penetrable with U.S. missiles.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei condemned a reported U.S. airstrike near Shahid Baqaei Hospital, a children’s cancer treatment center in Iran. Baqaei said more than 200 chemotherapy patients had to be evacuated.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases and facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
Following President Donald Trump’s threat Wednesday that the U.S. would bomb Iran’s “power plants and bridges” next week unless Tehran returned to the negotiating table, Iran’s central military headquarters warned that if the threat was carried out, Iran would destroy “all the infrastructure in the region.” Reuters reported Thursday that Iran has asked the Yemeni Houthis to shut down the Bab al-Mandab Strait if the U.S. attacks power plants in Iran.
The New York Times reported that only 13 ships transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from previous days.
Oil prices continued to rise, with the price of Brent Crude above $85 on Thursday morning.
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