The U.S. struck multiple bridges in Iran on Thursday in an effort to cut off supply routes to a port city and naval base in the Strait of Hormuz that Iran uses to attack ships and project power, according to a senior U.S. official.
Several attacks on bridges were reported in and around the port city of Bandar Abbas overnight Thursday, and highways connecting Bandar Abbas to nearby provinces were declared closed, according to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.
Bandar Abbas is home to an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval base and is critical to Iran’s ability to project power in the waterway and throughout the Persian Gulf. The U.S. has pounded it with strikes in recent days, and it attacked an Iranian submarine and ship facility there with sea drones earlier this week.
Iran has responded by striking the U.S.’s infrastructure in the region and its Gulf allies across the Middle East and continuing its attacks on commercial ships. Iranian military officials have threatened to destroy infrastructure across the Middle East if the U.S. attacks its infrastructure, according to IRIB.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Iran “very much continues to talk to the United States of America and express that they want to make a deal with us because they are suffering devastating blows.”
U.S. Central Command announced that it had begun a sixth straight day of strikes against Iran to degrade its military capabilities. The command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, has been largely focused on taking out missile and drone facilities as well as other sites that Iran uses to threaten shipping.
The attacks come as the U.S. imposes a naval blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas to choke off Iran’s economy. Centcom released photos of Marines boarding and searching a commercial ship Thursday. Since the blockade picked back up earlier this week, the U.S. has redirected three vessels and disabled another that didn’t comply with orders, the command said.
Write to Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com
