A US official confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the American military attacked bridges during tonight's wave of strikes on Iran, aiming to cut the supply route to the port city of Bandar Abbas, which Iran uses to launch attacks on shipping.
Early Friday, a US official confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the American military attacked bridges during the overnight wave of strikes on Iran, with the explicit goal of severing the supply route to the southern port city of Bandar Abbas — a hub Iran uses to launch attacks on commercial shipping. The confirmation, the first on-record attribution for the strikes' strategic purpose, comes after hours of unverified reports.
The thread of reports began at 00:00 Jerusalem, when journalist Roi Kais reported strikes on the Bandar Abbas–Shiraz bridge and an airport. At the same time, the Arabic-language security channel Abu Saleh reported that the US Air Force was attacking bridges. By 23:30 Thursday, unverified reports described a major bridge bombed on the Bandar Abbas–Lar route, halting traffic. At 00:24, Abu Saleh reported additional US airstrikes on bridges. Minutes later, at 00:38, security analyst Yair Goldblatt stated that all bridges connecting Bandar Khomeini to Bandar Abbas had been attacked and disabled. The reports evolved from a single source to multiple independent channels, and now to an official US confirmation.
The strikes are part of a broader US campaign against Iranian military infrastructure. As The Zioneer reported on July 13, the US Army confirmed a new wave of strikes that bombed the Bandar Abbas air base. On July 1, Vice President Vance said the US struck Iran over attacks on shipping and is applying leverage to secure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The official confirmation directly links the bridge strikes to the protection of maritime navigation.
The extent of damage and casualties from the bridge strikes remains unconfirmed. No official Iranian statement has been reported. The duration of the supply disruption to Bandar Abbas is unclear.
4 developments
- DevelopingIran's Tasnim agency reports US strike on central bridge in Kurdistan province
- StrongIsraeli media report two bridges attacked in southern Iran, US missiles strike near Sirik
- StrongIran reportedly strikes targets in Kuwait, Jordan, and Qatar after US bridge bombing
- StrongSource: Overnight US strikes hit newly-built Iranian targets, including surveillance and drone storage
Source and signal
- Internal intake