U.S. and Iran Report Strikes and Shipping Disruptions for Fifth Day

m. ET on Wednesday, according to a U.S. defense official cited by Defense News. The operation lasted approximately 90 minutes. The same official stated that U.S. forces also conducted a separate seven-hour operation on Tuesday targeting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.

The U.S. military reimposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports on Tuesday, according to France 24. U.S. officials said Iran attacked seven commercial ships over the past week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured. Iran said late on Saturday it had closed the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday it had struck U.S. military targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent days due to the U.S. strikes on southern Iran.

Iran’s army said at least seven active-duty and conscript personnel were killed in overnight U.S. strikes on the Bampur military base in the country’s southeast.

On Tuesday President Donald Trump stated he would hit Iranian power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations, adding that he would save the energy targets for last. The Strait of Hormuz carried about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war. Oil prices extended gains by about 1 percent on Wednesday after settling Tuesday on a new one-month high.

An interim ceasefire deal signed last month was meant to lead to further negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program and a permanent truce. The war began with U.S. strikes on July 28.