US strikes Iran for 13th consecutive night

Washington: US forces launched another round of strikes against Iranian military targets on Thursday evening (local time), marking the 13th consecutive night of attacks, said the US Central Command.

The strikes began at 6:45 p.m. Eastern Time and were intended “to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping,” the command said in a post on X.

US forces have redirected 12 commercial vessels and disabled one from entering or leaving Iranian ports or coastal areas since resuming a naval blockade against Iran earlier this month, the command said in another post on X.

“Since resuming the naval blockade against Iran nine days ago, CENTCOM has redirected 12 commercial vessels and disabled 1 to prevent ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports or coastal areas.”

Earlier on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it had stopped three oil tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, one of which caught fire after an explosion.

“Three oil tankers, provoked and tempted by the child-killing American army, were trying to pass through the mine-laid route south of the Strait of Hormuz, but after one of them exploded and caught fire, the other two quickly turned around and turned back,” the IRGC said in a statement quoted by Iranian state media.

It further warned that any ship “deceived” by the United States and intends to pass without Iran’s consent “will suffer the same fate.”

On Wednesday (Washington time), US forces launched strikes across Iran for the 12th consecutive night.

Iranian state media reported that US missiles struck locations near the cities of Ahvaz, Ramshir and Andimeshk in western Iran, a power station near the Bushehr nuclear power plant in southern Iran, and killed two people in the town of Shalamcheh on the Iraqi border,

Earlier on Thursday, US President Donald Trump told US online media Axios that he is considering restarting major combat operations in Iran, including strikes that would be bigger than the Operation Epic Fury he launched on February 28.

IANS