U.S. Central Command Conducts Strikes on Iranian Positions Following Vessel Attacks

U.S. Central Command announced it had launched a series of strikes on Iranian positions on July 7, 2026. The targets included command centers, air defense systems, radar installations, drone storage facilities, IRGC boats and missile launchers at sites on Qeshm Island, in Bandar Abbas, on Sirik Island and in Bandar-e-Jask.

Fires were reported at the Port of Shahid Haqqani in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, leaving the port facility ablaze, according to open-source imagery. No further details on casualties or the extent of damage were immediately available.

U.S. Central Command stated the strikes responded to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz earlier the same day. A U.S. military statement said the operation sought "to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway."

The strikes followed a memorandum of understanding signed last month in which both sides committed to negotiating a final deal within 60 days, extendable by mutual consent. The vessels' operators have not been publicly identified by the U.S. government. No publicly released evidence has documented the specific nature of the vessel attacks.