US attacks Iran for 11th consecutive night

US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has completed its 11th consecutive evening of air strikes against Iran to further degrade the country’s “ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.

In a statement, CENTCOM said that US forces targeted “Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure”.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said that “massive explosions were heard across the Iranian capital”, and that the air-defence system had been activated in various locations in Tehran.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported explosions being heard in parts of Bushehr, also in southern Iran. Several explosions were also heard around Sirik in southern Iran, according to the Fars news agency.

Areas near the cities of Behbahan and Omidiyeh in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province had been targeted in US missile attacks, the province’s deputy governor told Fars news agency.

Fars reported that US forces had attacked a military site on the outskirts of Tabriz in northwestern Iran. Citing local crisis management officials, the news agency said the strike occurred at about 2:40am local time (23:10 GMT) and hit a military zone near the city. It said there have been no attacks inside the city.

Attacks on Tabriz and Tehran mark a departure from the general trend of strikes in the latest round, which have largely focused on southern Iran and the area around the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Kuwaiti army said that its air defences were intercepting an Iranian drone attack. Iran has repeatedly attacked Gulf countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, since the resumption of US attacks this month.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says Washington is still willing to pursue diplomacy with Iran, but insists Tehran must show it is serious about talks.

“If we create a precedent in the Middle East where a nation state can decide that they are going to control an international waterway, charge a toll, and if you don’t pay them, blow up your ships. We have created a very dangerous precedent”, Rubio said. He added that the US will defend the principle of freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Congress on Tuesday that the cost of the war on Iran had reached $37.5bn. He said that the Pentagon needed $90bn in additional funding.

Hegseth faced considerable pushback from Democrat lawmakers.

Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia, who is up for re-election later this year, challenged Hegseth’s previous claim that Iran’s military had been “destroyed” in light of his demand for more funding.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, said he plans to attack a suspected Iranian nuclear site called Pickaxe Mountain “pretty soon, and very heavily”.

Responding to Trump’s threats, Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said there would be an expansion of attacks in the region if the US attacks the country’s nuclear sites.

With violence escalating, mediators have stepped up efforts to end the hostilities, as Iranian Minister of Interior Eskandar Momeni held talks with senior Pakistani officials, including Army Chief Asim Munir, in Islamabad.

Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani held a telephone conversation with Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, to discuss “enhanced diplomatic efforts and closer coordination for de-escalation and strengthening security and stability in the region”, according to a statement by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed “underlined the importance of all parties committing to diplomacy and executing what had been concurred on in the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

The US and Iran are competing for control of the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway, with attacks resuming after the breakdown of the June 17 memorandum of understanding.

Announcing the end of the 11th night of attacks, CENTCOM said that, over the past three months, Iran had “attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the international waterway vital for regional and global trade”.

“The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation,” it said.

Despite the hostilities, CENTCOM claimed, the Strait of Hormuz “remains open for commercial vessel transit”, adding that since early May, US forces “have helped facilitate the transit of approximately 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil”.