CENTCOM Launches Fifth Straight Day Of Strikes On Hormuz: US Forces Hit Greater Tunb Island And Bandar Abbas While Reinstating The Naval Blockade And Disabling A Tanker Attempting To Breach It
According to the BBC, the United States launched a fifth consecutive day of strikes against Iran on July 15, 2026, targeting Iranian coastal defence systems, cruise missile storage sites, command centres, and surveillance facilities across multiple locations including Greater Tunb Island and Bandar Abbas; all aimed at degrading the IRGC’s ability to continue attacking commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
President Trump, speaking at the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at the US Army War College, declined to issue a formal deadline to Tehran but warned: “They know the story. They better behave.”
CENTCOM launched two separate waves of strikes during the day; a 90-minute morning assault on Greater Tunb Island and a second wave at 3 p.m. ET hitting Iranian command centres, air defence sites, and missile and drone capabilities.
The US also reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports, striking and disabling the Curaçao-flagged tanker Belma after it ignored warnings while attempting to reach Kharg Island.
Iran responded by launching “a new wave of missile and drone strikes” against US facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan, claiming to have targeted Patriot air defence systems, satellite communications and HIMARS platforms. Iran simultaneously released an American woman detained since December 2024, which Trump described as a gesture of goodwill, even as his foreign ministry ruled out any return to negotiations.
The ceasefire is dead, the MOU is in tatters, and the war is now back at full intensity. Trump is bombing Iran by day and accepting hostage releases by night. The contradiction at the heart of US strategy is becoming impossible to ignore.
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