The United States carried out another wave of military strikes on Iran, targeting multiple locations across the country, as tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated further. In response, Iran claimed it launched missile and drone attacks on US military facilities in the region and targeted what it described as a "hostile vessel of the American enemy."
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the latest wave of strikes concluded at 7:45 am IST on July 14. During the five-hour operation, US forces targeted military sites in Bushehr, Chabahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it retaliated by launching missile and drone strikes on the US military's Al Juffair base in Bahrain. Iran also claimed its forces targeted US military bases in Kuwait and struck a hostile American vessel.
Casualties reported in Iran
Iranian media reported that at least one person was killed and seven others were injured in a US strike on a military base in Nain. The deputy governor of Isfahan province said the injured were receiving medical treatment. With the latest casualties, the reported death toll from recent US strikes in Iran has risen to at least two.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei announced that Tehran would suspend its commitments under its memorandum of understanding with the United States until Washington fulfilled its obligations under the agreement.
Trump claims Iran's military has been crippled
Amid the escalating conflict, US President Donald Trump claimed Iran had lost much of its military capability and several of its top commanders in recent US-Israeli strikes.
"They have no navy, they have no air force, it's all gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone, their leaders have all been killed, their best leaders have been killed," Trump said during an interview with Fox News.
Trump also claimed that Iran's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has remained out of public view since the funeral of his father, the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was "90 per cent gone." He did not elaborate on the remark.
US proposes Hormuz transit fee
Trump announced that the United States would reinstate a blockade on Iran and secure the Strait of Hormuz, adding that vessels passing through the strategic waterway would be charged a 20 per cent transit fee.
Earlier, in a post on Truth Social, Trump declared that the United States would become the "Guardian of the Hormuz Strait."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi swiftly rejected the proposal, insisting that Iran has historically protected the vital shipping route.
"Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. Twenty per cent is, of course, too much. We will be fair," Araghchi wrote on social media.
The latest developments mark another sharp escalation in the US-Iran conflict, with both countries exchanging military action and increasingly aggressive rhetoric, raising fears of wider instability across the Middle East.
