U.S. forces launched strikes against Iran in the last few moments. CENTCOM confirmed the launch of the attack moments after reports of explosions came out of Iran’s Mehr news agency. The U.S. military cite the downing of a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening as justification.
Explosions have been reported in the Sirik port area, near Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas, with Iranian air defence systems activated across the south. Israeli Channel 12 reports Trump briefed Netanyahu before the strikes began. Tomahawk cruise missiles were used, according to an Iranian outlet.
IRIB confirms six airstrikes on Qeshm Island alone. Targets confirmed so far include Sirik Naval Base, Jask Naval Base, the Bandar Abbas air defence position, Minab coastal missile battery, Qeshm coastal missile battery, and Qeshm Port. All strikes are concentrated in Hormozgan province along the Strait. Tasnim reports attacks on Jask and Kuh-e Mobarakeh. Mobarakeh Mountain in Hormozgan has also been struck, per local media.
A U.S. official confirmed almost 20 Iranian targets were struck in total across an operation that lasted approximately four hours.
U.S. bases in the region have been put on high alert for any Iranian response. Iran for its part has been insistent that any incoming attacks will be met with a strong response. Tasnim confirms Iran's position: the regime says it will give a definitive response to what it describes as U.S. aggression carried out under the pretext of the Apache crash.
This is happening just days after Israel triggered an exchange of fire with Iran. Israel bombed Beirut when Iran had explicitly warned them that any strike on the Lebanese capital would come with an immediate response.
The pretext warrants heavy scrutiny. The U.S. investigation had not determined whether the downing was intentional at the time Trump announced a response. Even if “intentional”, the presence of a U.S. helicopter in shared Iranian-Omani airspace is the much larger question. International law is very clear on this, the USA has no right to fly within the airspace of other nations, they would need approval.
CENTCOM said the incident remains under investigation. Iran made no claim of responsibility. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declined to mention any Iranian role, stating instead that foreign forces operating near Iranian territory carry inherent risk.
The Strait of Hormuz lies within Iranian and Omani territorial waters. The U.S. has no legal right to conduct military patrols there without the consent of the states who control the airspace. Iran, under international law, retains the right to respond to incursions into its airspace and territorial waters. An armed attack helicopter enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports is not a neutral vessel in innocent passage.
CENTCOM’s statement describes the strikes as “self-defense” and a “proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.” The aggression it describes took place inside Iranian sovereign space.
Iranian drones have been launched, with reported sightings over Baghdad and other areas of Iraq. Tasnim had previously noted that the Iranian military was waiting for the right conditions to launch an response to the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi has responded directly to the strikes, warning that the regime's armed forces will leave no attack unanswered. 'Leave our region if you want to stay safe,' he wrote on X, adding that the history of the Persian Gulf 'contains many chapters detailing the tragic fate of foreign invaders.' He also noted that despite U.S. battlefield defeats, Washington had chosen to test Iran's resolve.
A local IRIB reporter on the ground in Sirik reports that U.S. strikes also hit water tanks in the area, cutting off the water supply to the district of Bamani. A local IRIB reporter on the ground in Sirik reports that U.S. strikes also hit water tanks in the area, cutting off the water supply to the district of Bamani. ABC News has since confirmed the detail, reporting that the two tanks, one with a 500 cubic metre capacity and the other 2,000 cubic metres, are described by the local water company as vital distribution infrastructure for the area.
A second wave of U.S. attacks on Iran is now underway, according to a senior U.S. official cited by Israeli Channel 12. Fresh explosions have been reported in Jask County, southern Iran, per Mehr News Agency. A strong explosion has also been reported in Nahavand city, per local sources. Nahavand is in Hamadan province, significantly further inland than the first wave's targets along the Strait.
A second wave of strikes sits uneasily with CENTCOM's framing of the operation as a proportional response to a single helicopter downing.
Explosions have been reported again in Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island. Iranian state television confirms a renewed airstrike on the city of Jask. Iranian air defence activity has been reported over Hamedan in central Iran, with locals reporting explosions in Nahavand where a hostile UAV was sighted, confirming the earlier explosion report.
The second wave appears to be significantly larger in scale than the first. Further explosions have been reported in the vicinity of Sirik, with the IRGC naval base there confirmed struck by the U.S. Air Force. Two large explosions have been reported in Bandar Abbas, and four explosions on Qeshm Island, with both locations now being hit for the second time tonight.
The IRGC has now confirmed its response. IRGC Navy fighters attacked the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain with drones at 2:30 AM. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ has issued a formal statement confirming strikes on U.S. bases in the region, warning that if U.S. aggression continues, attacks will be carried out against designated target banks across the region. The IRGC statement explicitly describes the Apache crash as a false pretext.
The IRGC also confirmed that U.S. strikes in Sirik damaged a telecommunications tower alongside the two water tanks in the Bamani district, cutting civilian infrastructure across the area.
Fresh explosions were reported in Ahvaz, southwestern Iran, per Mehr News Agency. Further explosions reported on Qeshm Island.
Iran’s IRGC has confirmed a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was downed over Jam County, Bushehr Province, during the aerial clashes.
CENTCOM has now declared its strikes complete, saying forces struck Iranian air defence, ground control stations, and surveillance radar sites near the Strait using precision munitions from U.S. Air Force and Navy fighter jets. The statement claims the operation was proportional and cites not only the Apache downing but attacks on ‘international commercial ships transiting regional waters’ as justification, a significant expansion of the stated casus belli from a single helicopter incident.
The IRGC also struck Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait and the Azraq airbase in Jordan with drones and long-range missiles respectively, significantly widening the geographic scope of Iran's response beyond Bahrain.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tehran will now need to reassess negotiations with the U.S. following the exchange, casting serious doubt over any near-term diplomatic path.
