US Strikes Iran for Fifth Straight Day, Launches Day and Night Raids

The US military carried out airstrikes on Iranian military facilities for a fifth straight day. After previously conducting one nighttime strike a day, it has now expanded the campaign to include both daytime and nighttime attacks.

US Central Command, which is leading the operation against Iran, wrote on social media on July 15 that it had carried out a morning airstrike against Iran. The operation was completed at 7:30 a.m. Eastern time.

CENTCOM said the roughly 90-minute mission targeted Iran's coastal defense system and cruise missile storage and launch facilities on Greater Tunb Island with precision-guided weapons. It said the strike further degraded Iran's ability to conduct attacks that had threatened civilian commercial shipping near the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military has conducted airstrikes for five consecutive days since July 11 to weaken Iranian military capabilities used to attack civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Unlike earlier strikes, this operation was carried out during the day. In the headline of its social media post, CENTCOM described it as a "morning round" of airstrikes against Iran.

In a separate post, CENTCOM said it launched a second strike against Iran at 3 p.m. Eastern time on July 15, or 10:30 p.m. in Tehran. That made it two attacks in one day, one in daylight and another at night.

CENTCOM said the nighttime strike also targeted Iranian military capabilities used to threaten ships transiting freely through the Strait of Hormuz, an international waterway essential to global trade.

Earlier, the US military, acting on orders from President Donald Trump, resumed blocking the transit of all vessels traveling between Iranian ports and coastal areas through the Strait of Hormuz, in addition to carrying out airstrikes on Iranian military facilities.

Park Su-rim, Hankyung.com reporter paksr365@hankyung.com