Iran Warns US Against Attacks on Nuclear Facilities

The United States carried out strikes on Iran for an 11th consecutive night late on Tuesday, as Tehran warned Washington not to target its nuclear facilities. US Central Command (Centcom) said the latest attacks were intended to further reduce Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian state media reported that air defences were activated in Tehran, and that explosions were heard in several other locations including Tabriz in the north-west, the ports of Chabahar and Konarak in the south-east, and Bushehr in the south, where Iran’s only nuclear power plant is located.

Centcom targets military and maritime assets

Centcom said US forces hit Iranian military operation centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and military logistics infrastructure.

It also accused Iran of attacking more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz over the past three months. Centcom said the waterway remained open for commercial vessel transit, adding that the attacks had endangered mariners and undermined freedom of navigation.

Iran, which has retaliated against the US and its Middle East allies, warned of reprisals after President Donald Trump said the US would soon strike an underground nuclear site near Natanz.

Trump told reporters at a White House meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun that the next target could be a facility known as Pickaxe Mountain, where Iran is suspected of building an undeclared enrichment operation.

“We’ll be hitting that area pretty soon, and very heavily,” he said, adding that he would not normally announce targets but that “there’s not a thing they can do about it”.

Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya military command said an attack on such a site would be considered “an expansion of war in the region”, with state-run broadcaster IRIB reporting that it threatened strikes on “all the interests of America, the allies and supporters”.

Regional air defences report intercepts

Kuwait’s army said early on Wednesday that its air defences were engaging drone attacks from Iran. Bahrain and Jordan said they also intercepted drone and missile strikes.

The renewed fighting comes after a ceasefire agreement agreed in April between Iran and the US. Hostilities resumed last week as both sides contested control of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route.

The US and Iran had previously signed a Memorandum of Understanding in June that set out steps to halt military operations and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, along with a plan to reach an agreement ending the war over the next 60 days. Three weeks after the MoU was signed, Trump said the ceasefire was “over” following Iranian attacks on ships in the strait and subsequent US strikes.

Houthis warn of Red Sea blockade threat

Separately, Trump threatened to “take care of” the Houthi rebels in Yemen if the Iran-backed group carried out a threatened blockade of Saudi ports.

Earlier, a Houthi media official said it would close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea’s southern gateway, to Saudi vessels. The Red Sea has become particularly important for oil shipments from Saudi Arabia during the US-Israeli war with Iran, after the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Following the Houthi announcement, two tankers that had loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu and were bound for China and India made U-turns on Tuesday, British maritime risk management group Vanguard said, and instead headed towards the Suez Canal.

The prospect of disruption through the Red Sea adds to concerns for international shipping, with the broader conflict already contributing to significant fluctuations in global fuel prices.

US costs rise as funding sought

The war with Iran has cost the US about $37.5bn (£28bn) so far, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. He said the figure had increased by nearly $8bn since the last estimate made in May.

Speaking before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Hegseth said US military training would have to be curtailed unless lawmakers approved an urgent funding boost.

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22 July 2026

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