CENTCOM launches third wave of strikes on Iran, hits 140 targets

CENTCOM said it completed a third round of strikes against Iran, hitting about 140 Iranian military targets with precision munitions launched from land and sea, fighter aircraft, drones and naval vessels. The operation came after an Iranian attack on a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway where the latest exchange has raised the risk of a broader Gulf confrontation.

The U.S. military said the strikes were aimed at holding Iranian forces accountable and protecting civilian mariners and commercial ships transiting the strait. That objective places shipping security at the center of Washington’s response, even as the campaign has expanded beyond a single incident and now sits within a fast-moving cycle of attack and retaliation across the region.

Iranian state media said the "enemy" launched missiles toward Qeshm Island and reported no casualties. The island sits near Iran’s southern coast, close to Bandar Abbas and the shipping routes that run through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global energy flows and one of the most sensitive flashpoints in the confrontation.

The latest U.S. strikes followed an Iranian attack on a vessel in the strait that set a container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it, according to the Associated Press. That strike deepened fears that commercial traffic could become a routine target, putting pressure on insurers, shippers and energy markets already alert to any disruption in the passage.

The escalation did not stay confined to Iranian waters. Attacks and drone and missile strikes have also spread across Gulf states including Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, signaling that the conflict is beginning to touch American partners and U.S. interests well beyond the Strait of Hormuz.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres urged Iran and the United States to urgently resume negotiations as the Gulf crisis escalated. The calls for talks have come as both sides keep testing the limits of deterrence, with Washington saying it will keep the strait open and Tehran signaling through strikes and missile launches that it is prepared to widen the confrontation if pressure continues.