Tehran, Iran - The US continued to launch deadly strikes against Iran, and Tehran hit multiple Gulf targets on Thursday, as the renewed Mideast war – centered around the vital Strait of Hormuz – entered its sixth day.
The key oil and gas artery of the Hormuz Strait, which both the US and Iran insist they control, is central to the rekindled fighting that has now entered its sixth day.
US forces hit Iranian military targets in multiple locations, including coastal Bandar Abbas, to "degrade Iran's ability to threaten innocent mariners" in the Strait of Hormuz, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
"The strikes are targeting Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels freely transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway vital to global commerce," CENTCOM said in a separate statement.
"The US military is holding Iran accountable at the Commander in Chief's direction."
Earlier strikes had targeted coastal defense and cruise missile sites on Greater Tunb Island in the Gulf.
Iran's official IRNA news agency reported explosions in several areas of the country on Thursday, including Lorestan in the west and Senman in the north, while air defenses were triggered in parts of Tehran.
Soon after, US allies in the Gulf began reporting attacks, with Kuwait saying it intercepted Iranian drones and Bahrain sounding air raid sirens.
Iran's military said it targeted US military facilities in Jordan with drones, "in response to the enemy aggression," state television IRIB said.
Earlier, the US military said one of its aircraft fired on and disabled an empty oil tanker that was trying to break the naval blockade of Iran's ports.
In Iraq, Kurdish forces said the US-led coalition downed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdistan region, where AFP journalists heard explosions and saw smoke near the US consulate.