The United States military has launched its 10th consecutive night of airstrikes against Iranian targets, including missile bases and maritime capabilities, as the conflict over the Strait of Hormuz intensifies. President Donald Trump said, We hit them very hard again tonight … and we did that in honour [of the slain soldiers].
Escalating Military Campaign and Strategic Targets
Operations led by the U.S. military reached a 10th night of strikes late Monday, specifically at 4pm ET, or 1am Gulf Standard time on Tuesday, July 21. The campaign aims to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and further degrade Iran’s military capabilities, including missile, drone, and maritime assets used to threaten commercial shipping. According to U.S. military reports, the strikes targeted military command centres, air defence and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.
Iranian media reported that strikes occurred around Tabriz, which is believed to hold underground missile bases, as well as Bushehr, the site of the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant.
The intensity of the campaign reflects a sharp departure from the interim peace memorandum signed last month, which was intended to provide a 60-day window for diplomatic de-escalation. Instead, both nations are now engaged in what Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described on Monday as a full-scale war.
The current exchanges of fire, now in their second week, have seen the U.S. target bridges and electrical facilities in Iran. Tehran has retaliated by striking Washington’s Gulf allies, including Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and Kuwait. Bahrain reported that its air traffic systems were damaged by the strikes, though traffic was not affected. Additionally, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it had hit U.S. military targets in Kuwait, including an early-warning radar system that it stated was completely destroyed.
For more on this story, see US Launches Tenth Night of Airstrikes on Iran After 17 Soldiers Die.
Casualties and the Toll on U.S. Forces
The human cost of the conflict has escalated significantly over the past weekend. The U.S. military confirmed that 17 service members have been killed since the war began. Two soldiers were identified as having been killed in Jordan while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. An examination of remains is currently underway to determine if they belong to a third service member reported missing in that same attack. In Iraq, another U.S. service member died after the controlled detonation
of an Iranian drone. Iran’s health ministry reported on Friday that 50 people had been killed and more than 500 injured in the current round of fighting.
“We hit them very hard again tonight … and we did that in honour [of the slain soldiers].”
U.S. President Donald Trump
Disruption of Global Energy Markets
The conflict has caused significant volatility in global energy markets. With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz reduced to a trickle, the price of Brent crude surpassed $90 (£67) per barrel on Monday, reaching its highest level in a month. The instability is further compounded by a blockade of Saudi ports announced by Iran-allied Houthi forces in Yemen. The group stated it was responding to the targeting of Sana’a airport by the Saudi-backed Yemen government last week, declaring it would answer a blockade with a blockade.
While the U.S. military has encouraged ships to use a route near Oman to transit the strait, the risks remain high. A ship caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz near the coastline of Oman on Monday, though the British military reported it was unclear what had started the blaze. The IRGC has explicitly warned that the waterway will remain unsafe, stating, This passage will not be safe for the transit of petrochemical products, nor even a single drop of oil and gas.
Furthermore, the IRGC alleged that two oil tankers had exploded and been immobilized after attempting to transit a southern route they claimed had been encouraged by the U.S. military.
Diplomatic Uncertainty and Future Risks
Despite the ongoing combat, channels for communication appear to remain open. An Iranian official told Reuters that mediators have presented a proposal for a 10-day ceasefire to find ways to revive the memorandum of understanding. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the administration remains open to negotiations, stating, We’re going to continue to respond. If the door opens to diplomacy – if the guys that want [it]…
while emphasizing that any deal has to be real.
Iran’s interior minister was also expected to travel to Islamabad on Monday, according to Agence France-Presse. As of Tuesday, the region remains in a state of high tension as the 60-day implementation period for the interim peace deal continues, while the U.S. maintains its commitment to respond to the deaths of its service members.
This follows our earlier report, U.S. Soldiers Killed in Jordan and Iraq as Military Strikes Intensify.
Sources: theguardian.com, gulfnews.com.
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