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U.S. forces destroyed a surveillance tower at Iran’s Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port on July 16, while the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy warned that it was approaching the “zero hour” of an operation against U.S. Central Command naval units in regional waters.
CENTCOM said the tower, located at Chahbahar port in eastern Iran, was part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline.
According to CENTCOM, the network had been used for decades by the IRGC to monitor and target commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM announced the operation in a post on X, saying U.S. forces had successfully destroyed the surveillance tower.
“On July 16, U.S. forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower, part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said.
The U.S. military command said destroying the tower had directly weakened the IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks targeting civilian crews.
“The destruction of the tower directly degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members,” CENTCOM said.
It added that the strike was intended to protect freedom of navigation in regional waters for all vessels except ships attempting to violate the continuing U.S. naval blockade against Iran.
The IRGC Navy Command responded with a warning carried by Iranian state television, saying Iran was monitoring the movements and military equipment of U.S. forces in the region.
The command said American forces were coming closer to the moment when Iran’s armed forces would begin an operation against CENTCOM naval units.
“The Americans are drawing closer by the moment to the zero hour of an operation by Iran’s Armed Forces against CENTCOM naval units in the region’s waters,” the statement said.
The IRGC Navy concluded its message with the warning: “Wait and see.”
The warning followed comments from the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, who said Friday that Iran would continue targeting U.S. assets across the region until attacks on Iran’s southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz ended.
Brig. Gen. Seyed Majid Mousavi made the remarks in a statement carried by the Tasnim News Agency.
“In our calculus, land is land; Tehran and the south are one indivisible part of Iran,” Mousavi said.
“Our effective and targeted strikes from across Iran against the enemy will continue until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz,” he added.
Mousavi’s warning came as Tehran claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. military sites across six Arab countries.
Kuwait also reported that soldiers had been wounded by Iranian drones on its territory.
The statements from CENTCOM and the IRGC came amid continuing military activity around Iran’s southern coastline, the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz.
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