US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday night that, at 8:15 p.m. ET on July 21, it successfully completed the 11th consecutive evening of strikes against Iran which had begun about an hour earlier.
According to the statement, CENTCOM assets targeted Iranian military operations centers, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Over the past three months, Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the international waterway vital for regional and global trade. The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation,” said CENTCOM.
It stressed, “Despite Iranian aggression, the Strait of Hormuz remains open for commercial vessel transit. Since early May, CENTCOM forces have helped facilitate the transit of approximately 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil.”
Iranian media reported earlier that the US strikes were widespread and recorded in Behbahan, Mahshahr, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Bushehr and Parchin.
Air defense systems were reportedly also active in the Sohanak neighborhood in northeastern Tehran, west of Tabriz and Sirik.
The Nournews agency reported that air defense systems in Tehran were activated against “hostile targets”.
Hours before the latest US strikes, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational headquarters of the Iranian army, warned the US against striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“It is made clear that should the invading and terrorist forces of that nation take such a step, it will be regarded as an escalation of conflict across the region,” it said in a statement quoted by IRNA news agency.
“In that event, all US assets, along with those of its allies and backers, will be subject to a decisive strike by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces,” the statement added.
The warning followed comments from US President Donald Trump, who vowed to hit any nuclear site that the Iranian regime seeks to reconstitute.
“How about these people? They’re in this because of nuclear weapons, and they’re trying to possibly reconstitute a site? We’ll hit that site. Any site where they’re even thinking about nuclear – we’ll be hitting it very, very powerfully,” Trump said during a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House.
Trump’s comments came on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report, which cited Israeli intelligence assessments indicating that Iran relocated thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges to a deep underground facility inside Pickaxe Mountain last autumn.
The report noted that these findings were shared with the United States and indicated that the transfer took place following the June 2025 war, during which Israeli and US strikes targeted Iran’s three primary nuclear sites.
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