The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) on Thursday launched a fresh round of strikes against Iran after President Donald Trump signalled the possibility of further military action against the Islamic Republic.In a post on X, CENTCOM said the strikes were aimed at further weakening Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.“At the direction of the Commander in Chief, US Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM wrote on X.“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway,” the command added.The action comes just a day after the US military hit a variety of military sites and port facilities following what it described as Iran’s targeting of several merchant vessels off the coast of Oman.Iranian state media reported explosions, including in the port city of Bandar Abbas on the strait and in Sirik, another southern coastal city.The fresh strikes came after Trump, earlier in the day, asserted that the US would “probably hit them hard again tonight” and later added that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “long-term” military action.“Anything that happens is going to happen very fast,” Trump remarked, though he also suggested the US military might “just finish the job.”A day after assaults on commercial shipping escalated into an exchange of strikes on Iranian and US military targets, Trump also renewed his past threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including electric plants and desalinization plants, and to seize the oil-production hub of Kharg Island.
