The United States carried out daytime airstrikes against Iran for the first time on Wednesday, extending a bombing campaign that had previously been confined to nighttime hours, as Washington pressed to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping.
US Central Command said the daytime strikes came after seven hours of overnight bombing, part of a fifth consecutive day of US military action against Iran. A 90-minute wave on Wednesday targeted coastal defense systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island, while a separate strike wave that afternoon hit Iranian military capabilities used to threaten vessels transiting the strait. Officials said the shift to round-the-clock operations was intended to prevent Iranian forces from using daylight hours to recover and regroup between nightly bombing runs.
Iran’s health ministry said the overnight and daytime strikes injured more than 260 people, including women and children, and said seven military personnel were killed in a strike on a barracks near the southeastern city of Iranshahr. Iran’s foreign ministry said the country currently has no plans to return to negotiations, while its chief negotiator said Tehran must continue defending itself while remaining open to eventual diplomatic talks.
The escalation followed the reinstatement of a US naval blockade on Iranian ports on Tuesday, under which US forces disabled a tanker attempting to reach Kharg Island and redirected two other commercial vessels. President Trump has warned he could extend strikes to Iran’s power plants and bridges if Tehran does not return to the table, while also saying the US might ultimately need to dismantle Iran’s Revolutionary Guard entirely.
The daytime strikes mark an intensification from the pattern seen since fighting resumed last week, when strikes were carried out primarily at night. Iranian state media reported explosions in multiple cities including Bandar Abbas, Ahvaz and Chabahar, with one Ahvaz children’s hospital briefly evacuating patients after a strike landed nearby.
