US-Iran war LIVE: Two tankers exploded after hitting mines in the Strait of Hormuz, says IRGC
In a statement published by IRNA, the IRGC said, "An hour ago, two oil tankers, which were trying to pass through the minefield south of the Strait of Hormuz by deceptive American intelligence agencies, exploded and caught fire." IRGC added that they "stopped" four ships trying to transit the narrow yet critical waterway, which was once responsible for transporting roughly a fifth of the world's oil and gas shipments.US-Iran trade strikesThe United States launched strikes on Iran for the seventh consecutive night with attacks designed to "continue degrading Iranian military capabilities," according to a statement by US Central Command shared on X. Previously, US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iranian infrastructure; however, on Friday, there was no confirmation so far from Washington's side that US forces have begun to do so. The latest round of strikes marks the biggest escalation since the two sides resumed hostilities, with Tehran accusing Washington of attacking civilian infrastructure, including an airport, a railway station and two bridges, and said it had struck US assets across the region.Iran targets US Navy vessels with cruise missilesAfter the US launched strikes targeting civilian infrastructure across Iran, the Islamic Republic retaliated by launching a series of military operations targeting US naval and military assets across the Gulf region, including in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman and Syria, with the country's armed forces and the IRGC separately announcing strikes under Tehran's ongoing military campaigns.According to statements carried by the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, Iran's Army and the IRGC said the operations were conducted in response to recent US attacks on Iranian territory and military personnel. Tehran also claimed to have expanded its retaliatory operations across multiple countries in the Gulf and wider region, announcing strikes against US military facilities and assets in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman and Syria.US confirms destruction of Chabahar Port surveillance towerThe US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday (local time) confirmed that it has "successfully destroyed" the surveillance tower at Iran's Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar, saying the facility formed part of a maritime surveillance network used by the IRGC to monitor commercial shipping in the Gulf of Oman, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.In a post on X, it said, "On July 16, U.S. forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower, part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran's Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz."
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