🎯 U.S. operations continued for a third consecutive night: CENTCOM said a five-hour wave ending at 10:15 p.m. ET on July 13 struck military sites in Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas.
Precision munitions targeted coastal-defense systems, missile and drone sites and maritime capabilities intended to threaten commercial shipping. CENTCOM said more than 50,000 U.S. personnel are deployed across the Middle East and remain “vigilant, lethal, and ready.”
A U.S. official separately confirmed additional strikes over a two-hour period. Footage showed flight operations aboard the USS George H.W. Bush.
🗺️ Additional reported targets included southern and southwestern Iran: Initial reports said Qeshm Island was struck, while IRNA said damage assessments were underway. Iranian media also reported explosions and U.S. strikes in Ahvaz.
The IRGC said three of its members were killed in a U.S. strike on Abadan in Khuzestan Province.
☢️ Trump raised the possibility of action against Pickaxe Mountain: Channel 14 reported that the president threatened the deeply buried nuclear facility for the first time.
The site is reportedly beyond the destructive capacity of the GBU-57 used against Fordow. Iran has not installed centrifuges there, but it is believed intended for uranium enrichment protected from conventional aerial attack.
Conventional strikes could collapse tunnel entrances without destroying the chambers, allowing later excavation. The cited analysis said full elimination could require next-generation guided tactical nuclear weapons producing a seismic collapse or a ground operation.
The nuclear option was described as extremely unlikely because it would break the nuclear taboo and could give Russia a pretext for nuclear escalation in Ukraine.
Trump said:
“The deceitful, violent, and malicious Iranian leadership is leading it down a path of total destruction.”
“Instead of a 20% toll on passage through Hormuz — the Gulf states will invest in the U.S. on a historic scale.”
“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”
⚠️ Tehran warned of retaliation: A senior Iranian official told CNN that American soldiers and U.S. regional partners would pay the price if Trump acted on the threat.
Iranian media also published a list of American and Israeli officials allegedly marked for assassination, placing Senator Lindsey Graham first.
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