OAN Staff Addie Davis
10:56 AM – Thursday, July 16, 2026
United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced it had completed another round of strikes against Iran, with the Islamic Republic following with aerial attacks on its Gulf neighbors.
In the latest wave of operations, U.S. forces completed strikes at 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, targeting a number of military sites and locations, including in Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, according to CENTCOM.
“U.S. forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the command said in a Wednesday night statement.
Earlier in the morning, American forces conducted a 90-minute wave of strikes against targets on Greater Tunb Island as times between U.S. operations appear to be diminishing.
Following the most recent wave, neighboring Gulf nations reported air space incursions by Iran on Thursday. The Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) stated its air defenses had intercepted a number of Iranian aerial attacks.
“The General Command emphasizes that the deliberate use of missiles and drones to target civilians and private property constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” the BDF stated, according to a translation of a Thursday Arabic statement.
توضح القيادة العامة أنه بإرادةٍ صلبة وجاهزيةٍ قتالية عالية، تصدت منظومات الدفاع الجوي بقوة دفاع البحرين واعترضت ودمرت عدداً من الاعتداءات الجوية الإيرانية الغادرة اليوم الخميس 16 يوليو 2026م.https://t.co/1Neni8cnpn pic.twitter.com/aAPLSLvu9Q
— قوة دفاع البحرين (@BDF_Bahrain) July 16, 2026
Kuwait also reportedly was the target of hostile Iranian air activity. The General Staff of the Army of Kuwait announced its air defense systems were encountering drone attacks on Thursday morning.
CENTCOM said on Monday that 50,000 American troops were deployed across the Middle East. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is headquartered in Manama, Bahrain, and Kuwait hosts significant U.S. military installations.
On Wednesday, CENTCOM also said it had disabled an empty oil tanker attempting to violate the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“The commercial vessel ignored multiple warnings as it attempted to violate the U.S. blockade,” the command stated.
“A U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel after firing hellfire missiles into the ship’s smokestack. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” it continued.
The U.S. blockade was reimplemented at 4:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the command stated U.S. forces had already redirected two commercial vessels, in addition to disabling the tanker.
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