The United States conducted a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iran early in the day on Thursday, targeting key sites at the country’s strategically important Chabahar Port just hours after President Donald Trump warned Tehran that any further attacks would trigger an even stronger military response.
According to Iranian state media, the strikes hit two major marine piers and the port's maritime traffic control tower in the southeastern city of Chabahar. According to state broadcaster IRIB, multiple projectiles hit the Shahid Beheshti Dock, Kalantari Dock and the traffic control tower and caused heavy damage.
Videos and images circulated on social media showed the control tower at Shahid Beheshti Port being reduced to rubble after the attack appeared to have collapsed. The head of Chabahar Free Zone Organisation also confirmed that the maritime traffic control tower was destroyed, as reported by Iranian media.
Residents in Chabahar and the neighboring city of Konarak reported hearing about 10 powerful explosions as the strikes unfolded. The attack also disrupted electricity services throughout the region and nearly half of Chabahar had power cut off.
Officials in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province said three electricity transmission lines were damaged during the strikes. Two of the affected lines have since been restored and the repairs on the other line are ongoing.
Chabahar, located in the Gulf of Oman just outside the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, is Iran’s only ocean-facing port. It is critical to trade and maritime operations of the country, and is one of Iran’s most important strategic assets.
The loss of the maritime traffic control tower is particularly significant because it manages the movement of commercial and cargo vessels leaving and entering the port. If the damage is sustained, shipping in one of the most important maritime corridors in the region could be affected.
The latest military action follows a new round of U.S. operations that Washington has said are intended to uphold freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz after three cargo ships were bombed in the waterway earlier this week.
Though Iran has not claimed responsibility for those attacks, U.S. officials have continued to blame Tehran, claiming strikes on Chabahar were a direct response.
President Trump reinforced that message with a post on Truth Social.
"This is in retribution for yesterday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!"
The Strait of Hormuz is still one of the most important waterways in the world and about one-fifth of all oil shipments pass through it before the current conflict erupted after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
The new strikes come at a time of mounting tension between Washington and Tehran and are a fresh worry for international shipping and a threat of more regional conflict. And both sides show no signs of backing down, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz are still on the brink.
