A US official told Reuters on Wednesday that the US military launched another round of airstrikes in Iran, an attack that risks plunging the region back into full-scale war.
Details of the attack are minimal, but it comes after Iranian media reported there were explosions near Bandar Abbas, an Iranian port city on the Strait of Hormuz that the US targeted with strikes on Monday.
A US official speaking to CBS News framed the latest US attack as “defensive” as the US is attempting to obscure the fact that all of its hostilities against Iran, which include enforcing a blockade on its ports, are part of the same war the US and Israel launched against Iran on February 28.
The official said that the US targeted military sites, claiming they posed a threat to US forces and commercial shipping. A US official speaking to Axios reporter Barak Ravid claimed that the US shot down four drones that targeted a US commercial ship, then bombed a drone launch site on the ground.
So far, there’s been no comment from Iran about the US attack, but earlier in the day, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) vowed a major response to any further US attacks.
“If the enemies once again resort to military action, the Islamic Republic’s method of confrontation will be different from what they have witnessed so far, and they will face a new face and image of Iran’s combat power on the battlefield,” said Ali Naderi, the deputy for public relations of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force.