The United States escalated its military operations against Iran by launching a new wave of strikes, the seventh in a row, simultaneously with tightening the naval blockade on Iranian ports, at a time when it announced the destruction of a maritime observation site that it said was used to monitor and target commercial ships in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the new strikes began at 19:00 GMT, stressing that they aim to continue undermining Iranian military capabilities.

In a separate statement, the US military announced the destruction of the monitoring tower at Shahid Kalantari port in the city of Chabahar in southeastern Iran, explaining that the tower was part of a maritime surveillance network along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, used by the Revolutionary Guard to track and target commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

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As part of tightening the naval blockade, the US military announced diverting the course of four commercial ships, disabling one of them, and boarding another, to ensure full compliance with the measures imposed on Iranian ports.

In response, Iranian state TV reported hearing three explosions in the city of Sirik in southern Iran, while Iranian media quoted the military as saying that the Iranian navy fired a missile toward an American ship described as 'hostile' in the northern Indian Ocean.

This escalation comes amid the continuation of US military operations against Iranian targets and the widening scope of confrontation between Washington and Tehran, with growing fears of its impact on navigation security in the Gulf and waters surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.