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US, Iran exchange fresh strikes as conflict widens

Jul. 16, 2026 • 3 min read
Image of US, Iran exchange fresh strikes as conflict widens Vehicles drive past a billboard depicting US President Donald Trump lying on what appears to be a coffin and bearing anti-Trump messages, including the phrase “We Kill Trump,” at Islamic Revolution Square in downtown Tehran, Iran on July 15, 2026. Photo: AP

The IRGC said that it has “targeted and destroyed the American fighter jet storage ramp and the new American command and control center in West Asia in a very large base in al-Azraq, Jordan,” with ballistic missiles during two waves of attacks.

 

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq –  The United States and Iran continued exchanging fire overnight into Thursday, with no signs of a ceasefire or a return to negotiations.

 

Washington and Tehran traded daily strikes for almost a week, eventually resulting in US President Donald Trump saying that the peace deal “is over,” merely 21 days after the memorandum of understanding was signed.

 

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said early Thursday that it had concluded another wave of strikes against Iran, targeting “Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities.”

 

The US military command said the attacks aim to “further degrading Iran's ability to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” noting that earlier, the forces also struck coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island in a 90-minute operation.

 

Iranian authorities have repeatedly asserted Tehran's right to oversee the strategic waterway, with Iranian parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying on Wednesday that preserving Tehran's “arrangements” in the Strait of Hormuz is vital to the country's national security.

 

Since the start of the war, Iran has restricted access to the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world's oil supply is transported, a move that Washington has long expressed opposition to.

 

As the daily fire exchange continued between the US and Iran, Tehran claimed responsibility for targeting several regional countries in an overnight attack.

 

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it has “targeted and destroyed the American fighter jet storage ramp and the new American command and control center in West Asia in a very large base in al-Azraq, Jordan,” with ballistic missiles during two waves of attacks, according to the statement.

 

The IRGC claimed the US-linked base in Jordan had been used by US forces to launch overnight attacks targeting multiple locations across Iran.

 

“This is not the first American crime using bases located in Jordan,” it added.

 

Meanwhile, the Iranian Army said early Thursday that, in coordination with the IRGC, it targeted the radar and air defense systems at US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain with drones and missile attacks, claiming the facilities serve as “support units for US aircraft.”

 

The bases sustained “serious damage,” according to the statement, in what it described as a successful operation.

 

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, also said that any US interference in the management of the Strait of Hormuz would cross an “inviolable red line.”

 

Citing what he described as Washington's threats against Iranian infrastructure, he warned that “all the infrastructure in the region will be crushed.”

 

US strikes have largely targeted southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran has resumed targeting countries hosting US military bases and also attacked vessels for allegedly failing to provide prior notification before transiting the waterway.

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