US pounds IRGC as two soldiers killed in Jordan

WAR WIDENS | Centcom says targeted coastal surveillance, air defence, missile and drone storage sites to weaken Iran’s control of the strait and punish Revolutionary Guard forces

NUCLEAR SITE HIT 

US strikes targeted the construction site of Iran’s planned Darkhovin Nuclear Power Plant in southwest Iran, as per Iranian state TV. Satellite images show limited construction, and no radiological material is known to be present.

50,000+ US men and women in uniform are operating across West Asia. They remain highly vigilant, focused, lethal and ready. 

US Central Command 

Dubai: The US military launched airstrikes on Sunday targeting Iran’s IRGC in retaliation for the killing of its troops in Jordan, escalating the conflict after an interim ceasefire effort collapsed.

The US military’s Central Command said it struck Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities, maritime capabilities and missile and drone storage sites. It said the operation was intended to degrade Iran’s ability to control the Strait of Hormuz and “swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces”, a key power base in Iran’s theocracy that controls its ballistic missile arsenal.

Footage released by the US military appeared to show strikes by fighter jets and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the sea. One target appeared to be in a mountainous valley. The IRGC is known to house missile bases and other military equi­pment in mountain ranges.

An Iranian attack on a base in Jordan killed two American service members, left one missing and four requiring hospitalisation, the US military said. Since the conflict began, 16 US service members have been killed and over 430 wounded. Iran has provided no overall information on its military losses in the Ame­ri­can campaign, now in its eighth day as the two countries vie for control of the strait.

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said US strikes on Sunday targeted the construction site of the planned Darkhovin Nuclear Power Plant, as per Iranian state TV.

Satellite images from Pla­net Labs PBC showed extensive earth clearing but little construction at the site as of July 9. No radiological mate­rial is known to be at the site, which Iran had not previously identified as a target.