U.S. Launches New Wave of Overnight Strikes as Iran Escalates
CENTCOM: The U.S. “struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.”
The U.S. military retaliated against the Iranian regime with a new round of overnight strikes just hours after President Donald Trump vowed to “hit them hard.”
The U.S. launched the strikes after Iran attacked oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, directly breaching the ceasefire signed three weeks ago. Iran, on Thursday, declared that it was widening the military conflict, launching strikes on Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait.
“In Kuwait, the military said falling debris wounded one person as it shot down three ballistic missiles, a cruise missile and 10 drones. Bahrain said it shot down incoming fire, without elaborating,” the Associated Press reported. “There was no immediate word of damage in Qatar.”
Thursday afternoon, Iran boasted of launching a strike on U.S. base in Jordan, Sky News reported:
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has struck a US air base in Jordan, Iranian state media have reported.
The base, located in Al-Azraq, and a command and control centre in “West Asia” were hit with ten ballistic missiles at 2:20pm local tirelme (11:50am UK time), according to the report.
.@POTUS: "We just hit them very hard, and I say we hit them 20-to-1 — every time they hit us, we're going to hit them 20… When they hit, we hit back much harder." https://t.co/XIthjknwBH pic.twitter.com/8G2sHxZBNA
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 9, 2026
U.S. strikes military targets along Iran’s southern coast
According to Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. “forces completed an additional round of strikes against Iran, July 8, to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Strikes concentrated along Iran’s southern coast targeted air defense systems, missile installations, and drone facilities. They “struck approximately 90 Iranian military targets including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline,” CENTCOM said in a statement on Thursday.
“The latest strikes follow successful execution of offensive strikes in Iran the night before,” CENTCOM added, referring to the previous round of strikes on 80 Iranian military and terrorist targets.
Another video from Bushehr province, Iran. pic.twitter.com/8TnFsKBvEB
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 9, 2026
Explosions were reported in the southern Iranian province of Bushehr, which houses oil facilities and a Russian-built nuclear power plant. “Several explosions have been heard in the Bushehr province,” Sky News (UK) reported Thursday morning, citing regime media sources. “Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said several locations in the city of Bushehr were attacked last night.”
IRGC Naval base in Bushehr, Iran
— Kosher (@koshercockney) July 8, 2026
The BBC reported “authenticated footage showing the aftermath of overnight US strikes on the southern Iranian town of Kuhestak, in Hormozgan province near the Strait of Hormuz.” The clip “shows multiple fires and smoke at what appears to be a fishing dock,” the broadcaster added.
Eyewitness video from Wednesday showed smoke rising from a port in Kuhestak in Iran's Hormozgan Province after the U.S. military unleashed a new wave of strikes against Iran on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/jCmp7NAVc1
— NTD News (@NTDNews) July 9, 2026
Iran escalates after Khamenei’s burial
Iran chose to escalate after burying Ayatollah Khamenei following a weeklong funeral ceremony. For days, regime loyalists held processions in Tehran and other cities, calling for “death” to the U.S. and Israel, and the assassination of President Trump and members of his administration.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Regime supporters in Mashhad, Iran are trying to taunt President Trump. pic.twitter.com/uXYfuQQzyG
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) July 8, 2026
Mojtaba Khamenei, the regime’s new Supreme Leader and son of the slain Ayatollah, appears to be hiding for fear of a U.S. or Israeli strike. “Iran buries its slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday at the country’s holiest shrine, with his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei still hidden from public view after being disfigured in the strike that killed his father,” Reuters reported Thursday.
A plane carrying the coffin of late Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei lands in Iran’s eastern holy city of Mashhad, ahead of his burial. https://t.co/GAMuRQMhTp pic.twitter.com/LyienFDUig
— Arab News (@arabnews) July 9, 2026
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I still say they need to send a wing of B-52s after Kharg island and level every structure that taller than 3 ft.
I agree with your intent, but it can be done easier with no chance of casualties. Looking at satellite photos of Kharg Island, it is a tiny Island [may be 5 x 7 miles off the top of my head] that is covered with huge oil tanks and pipelines out there in front of God [not allah] and everybody. A few stand off cruise missiles loaded with HE and WP, and they will be able to read their newspapers by the light of the island in Teheran. It will play merry hob with their national budget.
Subotai Bahadur
Subotai Bahadur
Let the drones do it. Look what Ukraine has done to Russian refineries without risking casualties and using half million dollar cruise missiles. Two thousand dollar drones caused millions of dollars damage.
What’s this? Trump just may have learned the lesson that you can’t and shouldn’t negotiate with the Iranian regime and Arab Terrorists and is finally taking the action necessary to permanently eliminate Iran as a threat to the U.S. and the Western World? About fecking time if it’s true. And something that should have been done from the very beginning of this whole debacle. But here we are and there we go. We’ll see if Trump now has the will to see this to the end. I hope he does.
eot
This break was never about Trump not knowing this.
This was for all the people who would have complained that Trump was not giving Peace a Chance.
Now he can say, “look, we tried. Not our fault they prefer bombings.”
Maybe, but given all variables and different pressure points resistant to the mass death/destruction required to create conditions for unconditional surrender I have my doubts. The two key tells are whether we keep up a bombing campaign that ratchets higher each day and whether the targeting begins to include basic infrastructure like power generation, water plants, dams, irrigation canals and domestic fuel/oil/gas facilities … IOW things the regime needs to maintain control over the populace.
No way to know but somewhere in all this pause, maybe some guns have gotten in the hands of the Iranian people and more members of the IRGC have been located and soon disposed of along with more lower level mullahs.
Trump tried earlier but weapons stolen by Iraqi Kurds. As for death and destruction… the IRGC is a cancer that needs to be carved out. Frankly, if the mullahs want a nuke or two then we will ablidge. As for Cuba, one drone fired from there and we own Cuba.
Mossad likely has agents within the Iranian military (the Artesh*). They should encourage the Artesh to rise up against the IRGC, as it is the IRGC that’s responsible for Iran’s problems.
*The Artesh and the IRGC are parallel military forces, with a relationship to each other very similar to how the German Wehrmacht related to the Waffen SS.
Very true. Hopefully there are enough. ‘The Kurds stole the guns’ line from Trump’s comment that time weeks ago may have been a throw away line as a signal or just something probably better off not said.
The cover photo of the air intake on an F-16 makes me hungry for catfish…. 🙂
Makes me want to steal an f16.
https://youtu.be/gotB5q-uqLk?si=8ta-dfbzQL5FsRw6
I thought we had destroyed their capabilities the first go around
We have essentially destroyed their military capability in the sense that their military could not execute an organized war against another country. This does not mean that we have disarmed everyone down to the last rock. What we face is somewhat similar to what we faced in Afghanistan in that the IRGC is now a loose confederation of well-armed Warlords. They cooperate when it suits them but are essentially independent of each other. The focus is still on the external enemy, so infighting among them for who will control the country has not really begun yet. Further note that they have fallen for their own propaganda – they believe that the big turnout for the funeral means support for them among the populace. If the experience from bombing of the populace in several previous wars is meaningful (Japan, Germany, U.K., Vietnam) , the bombings may well have increased their support. This has encouraged them “to continue the fight.”
Still, note that the IRGC’s recent attacks haven’t even tried to hit the U.S. military. They are lashing out at their neighbors (former friends?) because that’s where they still have missiles et al. Ultimately though, I think we will have to occupy Karg island with Marines. That’s what the Iranians want any way – boots on the ground they can fight mano-a-mano. Works for me – they lose oil exports and we also give them some excellent targets for their remaining missiles and drones: their own refining infrastructure.
The IRGC will not fare well against the USMC. The second wave to come ashore would most likely be a fully-functional armored division (Army, because the USMC doesn’t have tanks anymore). The Marines are well known for Kicking A$$ and Taking Names, and they don’t really care what your name is.
Occupying Karg island would be suicide for the occupying force because they would be in range of the cheapest drone. Iran would gladly sacrifice their own oil port to kill Americans. If there is going to be an invasion, it must be Iran’s neighbors supported by the US military. America will not accept our men and women dying for any of this desert scum on either side!
No one going to invade Iran. The only country in the region with a capability of matching up is probably Turkey and no one with a quarter of a brain will turn them loose. Besides it’s a long haul from Turkey to Iran through a bunch of war zones.
Depends on what you mean by ‘capability’. As in capability to do X at Y frequency and Z intensity. Drones are cheap, easily produced, portable and relatively easy to control/operate. Given a couple months a restock is simple. Same for basic missiles. Hitting the launchers out in the open is one thing. Hitting the ones hidden is another. Mostly Iran has mobile launchers not fixed sites like a you’d see in a movie about ICBM silo in the Dakotas.
What’s harder to replace are the radars. More complex and costly. Same for communication systems. Plus the ‘best’ or optimal sites to deploy them are easy to see on a map and hitting them is pretty easy. The older fixed sites were taken out earlier. Now were hitting the replacements and the less capable mobile arrays.
The way to think about reduction of capability is like a flood. You built a sandbag wall and it worked on day 1 and .day 2, then the rain stopped and water receded a bit but on day 4 the rain came again and the water is rising again. TL/DR Its a continuous process not an event.
I don’t think radars are needed to launch drones or missiles. They use GPS and onboard systems. Radars are needed for defensive efforts though.
I should cut and paste my comment from a previous thread , Essentially no one cares that Trump tried to negotiate and it changed no ones opinion of Trump. It’s true purpose was ???
That comment also asked what is the end game here and how do we get there? Everyone has an opinion but it be nice to know if the admin has a set goal. Does it?
I’ll add that by no one I mean literally no one. Not Americans. No Europeans. Not Chinese. Not Iranian. Trump is a known quantity and stopping bombing without achieving what you said you wanted only shows weakness and that is how it was interpreted by many including the Iranians and their supporters.
The Iranians behaved exactly the way they were expected to act. Trump couldn’t possibly have not known the Iranians could be relied upon to violate the cease fire. Certainly he had multiple advisors telling him this if he wasn’t capable of figuring this out on his own. Who here didn’t expect the Iranians to violate the cease fire? Nobody. Then why would anybody here think Trump would have thought otherwise?
As for the purpose of the cease fire, I see people complaining it gave Iran a breather, allowing them to rebuild their war-making capabilities. And you think this doesn’t also apply to US forces? Who would get the greater advantage by an opportunity to re-arm, reposition, and to otherwise prepare for a renewal of hostilities? Hint: the answer is not “Iran.” The US started out militarily stronger and more capable than Iran, and Iran’s war-fighting capability was extremely eroded by US attacks. The US remains in a posture of strength and readiness. Iran entered the cease fire in disarray for having experienced great losses in its political, religious, and military leadership and in its war-fighting capability for loss of men and materiel. Financially, Iran is bleeding money for its efforts to rebuild its military capability and for having lost a sizeable portion of its oil revenues. The money being spent and the money lost is funding that won’t be available for its nuclear program, putting a dent in said program indirectly. Just making them spend the money is a win for the US.
I said as much about US rearming as a reason elsewhere as a possible reason.
None of us know the true reasons. It’s all speculation.
What I’d like to know as I said it what exactly is the goal and how do we plan on achieving it. The US is all over the map there as far as I can tell.
All I can state is what I would have done. My goal would have been to decimate their nuclear capability. That would have been small and achievable and in the US interest. That would have been it outside of retaliating for attacks on US assets in the region, We’d be done now aside from retaliations.
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