The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on July 22 (US time) that it would continue to conduct a new air strike against Iran. According to CENTCOM, this operation "will further weaken Iran's ability to threaten civilian sailors and commercial ships passing through the area's waters".
The announcement of CENTCOM's new airstrike was made after US President Donald Trump declared that for every attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, US armed forces would destroy an Iranian bridge or power plant.
Starting from this moment, whenever Iran fires at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether with missiles, rockets, drones or any other equipment or weapons, the US will bomb and destroy a bridge or power plant, including facilities near or within the capital Tehran," Mr. Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social on July 22. Previously, he threatened to attack Iran's civilian infrastructure, declaring that the US would "demolish all Iranian bridges, unless they sit down at the negotiating table".
Responding to Mr. Trump's statement, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned the US and its allies about attacking Iran's civilian infrastructure. "Any act of aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will force us to respond strongly and decisively. Anyone who facilitates that act of aggression, regardless of the form of support, will be considered a legitimate target," Araghchi wrote on social media.
The Command of the Khatam al-Anbiya Center of the Iranian armed forces also declared that if Mr. Trump's threats to attack civilian targets in Iran are carried out, the conflict will spread further beyond the regional borders and put the entire energy infrastructure in the Middle East in a dangerous situation.
If the US implements its threats, Iranian armed forces will not allow a drop of oil to be exported, while oil, gas, power and economic infrastructure in the region will become targets of attack," Iranian forces warned.
In response to new US airstrikes, Iran has carried out almost daily attacks with missiles and drones targeting US military facilities across the Middle East since the temporary ceasefire collapsed earlier this month. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on July 21 announced that Iran's missile and drone attacks had neutralized many US radar, communication and air defense systems in Kuwait, confirming that US bases across the region had experienced "dark nights".
Tehran warned that a US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be considered an act of expanding the war, at which point the interests of the US and its allies and Washington-backed forces would become targets of retaliation. Washington confirmed that 4 US military personnel were killed in recent Iranian attacks.
