The United States bombed Iran for a fourth consecutive day, completing a new seven-hour wave of precision strikes against dozens of military targets along Iran’s coastline while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps simultaneously escalated its own campaign, claiming to have destroyed a major US military logistics hub in Kuwait and targeting American bases across Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in a series of attacks it has branded “Operation Nasr 2.”
“US Central Command completed an additional round of strikes against Iran at 10 p.m. ET, July 14, hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas,” CENTCOM posted on X.
“US fighter aircraft, drones, and naval vessels launched precision munitions against Iranian missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defence systems during the seven-hour wave to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews.”
An hour after CENTCOM announced the strikes, it confirmed the naval blockade of Iranian ports was back in effect. “US forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas today at 4 pm ET,” the command said.
“There are currently more than 20 US Navy warships and hundreds of military aircraft operating across the Middle East. American forces remain vigilant, lethal, and ready.”
Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah Burns as IRGC Strikes Deep Into Gulf States
The IRGC’s most significant claim of the day centred on what it described as the complete destruction of the US military’s main logistics and support hub for West Asia at Mina Abdullah, on Kuwait’s southern coast. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it set fire to and destroyed what it described as the US military’s main logistics and support hub in West Asia at Mina Abdullah, Kuwait, saying the strike was carried out during the fourth wave of its “Nasr 2” operation.
According to the IRGC’s statement carried by Iran’s state broadcaster, the operation involved simultaneous missile and drone strikes on US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
The IRGC stated that its Navy and Aerospace Forces targeted several weapons and equipment storage sheds, as well as parts of US ships and aircraft, at the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, and further stated that the operation struck the ramp used for the deployment of MQ-9 drones at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, noting that a number of drones were destroyed or damaged.
The IRGC also claimed a second wave of Operation Nasr 2 struck multiple weapons storage facilities, a satellite communications hub, and US military housing in Bahrain. No independent verification of the damage at any of the targeted Gulf facilities has emerged, and neither US nor Kuwaiti officials have confirmed the Iranian account of what was destroyed.
Iran’s Coastal Cities Struck, Grain Silos Hit
CENTCOM’s fourth-day offensive targeted key installations stretched across Iran’s southern coastline. The five-hour operation targeted key installations at Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas, all positioned along Iran’s southern coast, with precision-guided munitions deployed to neutralise Iranian coastal defence systems, missile launch infrastructure, drone positions and naval capabilities.
A US strike hit a grain storage silo in southwest Iran early on Wednesday, while another location in Khuzestan province was also targeted. According to the deputy governor for security affairs in Khuzestan, the attacks struck a silo in Hoveyzeh and another site in Dasht-e Azadegan county.
The strikes on civilian grain infrastructure drew immediate condemnation from Iranian officials, who said they constituted a deliberate attack on food security, though the US military has not commented specifically on those targets.
Jordan Downs Missiles, Bahrain Sounds Air Raid Sirens
The widening arc of Iran’s retaliatory strikes has pulled a growing number of Gulf neighbours into the conflict’s immediate fallout. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he met Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi to discuss regional security, including “Iran’s ongoing attacks on shipping and countries in the region.”
Jordan said it downed four Iranian missiles, Bahrain sounded air raid sirens as Iranian strikes targeted Sheikh Isa Air Base, and Kuwait engaged what it described as hostile aerial targets over its territory, marking the most geographically dispersed single day of the conflict since hostilities resumed following the ceasefire’s collapse last week.
The IRGC issued an explicit warning that it intended to keep expanding the scope of its operations for as long as US strikes on Iranian soil continued.
“The retaliation and punishment of the aggressor will continue as long as America’s crimes continue, and if these attacks are repeated, they will face surprising responses,” the IRGC statement read.
The corps went further, warning that continued US military action in the region would affect energy exports: “As long as America’s evils exist in the region, not a single drop of oil or gas will be exported from the region,” the IRGC added, while noting that such actions would only delay the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Britain Designates IRGC, Iran Hits Back
The diplomatic front widened alongside the military one as hostilities in the Persian Gulf resumed. Iran’s foreign ministry condemned Britain’s decision to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps under its new state threats legislation, calling the move irresponsible and a violation of international law.
The British designation, the first formal invocation of the UK’s state threats regime against a foreign military entity, was widely interpreted in Tehran as evidence of Western alignment with Washington’s military campaign, a characterisation London denied, saying the designation was a long-deliberated security decision unrelated to current hostilities.
UAE Tankers Still Burning, Oil Market in Crisis
Against this backdrop of unrelenting mutual bombardment, the humanitarian and economic toll of the conflict continued to deepen. Two crude oil tankers operated by the UAE’s ADNOC Logistics and Services were struck by projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, in an attack that killed one Indian crew member and injured eight others, the most lethal single maritime incident of the conflict to date. Both tankers caught fire, with one of them, the Mombasa, still carrying hull damage as the fires were brought under control Tuesday.
Commercial shipping through the strait has now effectively ceased, with maritime tracking data showing barely half a dozen vessels crossing the waterway in a 24-hour period against a pre-war average of twenty or more. Oil markets remain in turmoil, with Brent crude holding near multi-month highs as traders price in the prospect of an extended shutdown of the world’s most critical energy corridor.
A Pakistan-Brokered Pause, Still Unresolved
Even as the military exchange continued at maximum intensity, diplomatic channels have not gone entirely dark. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formally proposed a two-week ceasefire and reopening of the strait as an emergency confidence-building measure, a proposal that Iranian officials said they were reviewing positively even as the IRGC’s missiles kept flying.
US President Trump has not formally accepted or rejected the Pakistani proposal, and White House officials have declined to characterise the administration’s position on the offer, leaving the only live diplomatic thread hanging as the conflict enters its fifth day with no sign of either side choosing to unilaterally stand down.
