U.S. Central Command began a fresh round of strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET Sunday, hitting air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats after Tehran broadened its military aggression to six Gulf states and fired on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Washington Examiner reported.
The strikes were still ongoing more than three hours after the initial announcement. CENTCOM said the operation was ordered by the Commander in Chief and marked the first time the U.S. military deployed one-way attack sea drones in combat.
The escalation came after Iran widened its attacks earlier Sunday to target Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, and Jordan, a dramatic expansion from the initial flashpoint Saturday night, when an Iranian missile struck a Cyprus-flagged merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz. That attack triggered the first round of U.S. strikes against Iranian targets Saturday evening.
At the center of the confrontation is the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes. Iranian leaders declared the waterway closed "until further notice," a claim CENTCOM rejected in blunt terms Sunday morning.
"FACT: Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. It remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way."
That was no idle statement. Shortly after CENTCOM announced the 5 p.m. strikes, spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "fired at commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz." Whether that IRGC action was a separate incident from the earlier Cyprus-flagged vessel attack remains unclear from available reporting.
An unnamed U.S. official told the New York Times to expect a "bigger" wave of attacks compared to the Saturday night operation, a signal that Washington intended to match the scope of Iran's own escalation across the Gulf.
A late Sunday night update from CENTCOM detailed the targets and the weapons brought to bear. The command struck Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats. The assets used included U.S. fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and, for the first time, one-way attack sea drones.
CENTCOM framed the operation as necessary to keep international shipping lanes open, stating it was prepared to ensure freedom of navigation "despite Iran's continued unwarranted aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations."
The second wave of airstrikes on Iran followed a pattern that has accelerated in recent days: Iranian provocation, U.S. response, further Iranian escalation, and a broader American reply.
Tehran did not limit its offensive to the battlefield. Iranian state media claimed Sunday afternoon that three American soldiers had been killed in strikes on Kuwait. CENTCOM moved quickly to rebut the claim, posting a response on X, though the command's verbatim rebuttal was not quoted in full.
The false casualty claim fits a familiar Iranian information-warfare playbook, assert American losses to shape domestic and regional narratives, force the U.S. to respond defensively, and create confusion about the actual state of play. CENTCOM's willingness to call it out publicly and promptly suggests the command anticipated exactly this kind of move.
CNN, as cited by the Washington Examiner, reported that one security guard was killed after a projectile hit a water pumping station in southwest Iran. The guard's identity, employer, and the circumstances of the strike were not detailed further.
The breadth of Iran's Sunday attacks, spanning Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the UAE, and Jordan, represents a significant widening of hostilities. Details on damage and casualties in those six nations were not available in initial reporting, but the geographic scope alone marks this as an escalation well beyond the initial Strait of Hormuz incident.
Oil prices rose in response, though specific figures were not immediately reported. Any disruption to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passes, carries immediate consequences for global energy markets and, by extension, for American consumers at the pump.
The confrontation also carries echoes of the broader debate in Washington over presidential war powers. Four Republican senators recently sided with Democrats on an Iran war powers resolution, reflecting unease in some quarters about the pace and scope of military action, though the Iranian escalation across six nations may reshape that political calculus quickly.
The sequence of events compressed into a single weekend tells the story of how fast the situation moved. Saturday night, the U.S. struck Iranian targets in response to the missile attack on the Cyprus-flagged merchant vessel. By Sunday morning, Iran had widened its attacks to six Gulf states. CENTCOM posted its defiant Strait of Hormuz statement. Sunday afternoon brought the false Iranian state media claim about dead American soldiers. By 5 p.m. ET, CENTCOM was launching a new, broader round of strikes. More than three hours later, the operation was still underway.
President Trump, who directed the strikes through the chain of command, had not publicly commented on the latest round as of the Washington Examiner's reporting. His posture toward Iran has been consistent: he declared the ceasefire with Iran over after earlier tanker attacks and has made clear he views Tehran's behavior as warranting a forceful military response.
The introduction of one-way attack sea drones, a first for the U.S. military in this theater, signals that CENTCOM is expanding its toolkit as the confrontation deepens. That capability, paired with fighter aircraft, naval vessels, and aerial drones, suggests a command posture designed for sustained operations, not a one-off show of force.
Earlier U.S. strikes had already destroyed more than 60 Iranian boats, and the latest CENTCOM update confirms that small boats remained a target category in Sunday's operation. Iran's fast-boat fleet has long been a tool of harassment and asymmetric warfare in the Gulf; degrading it is a practical step toward keeping the strait navigable.
Several important questions remain open. What damage did Iranian attacks inflict on the six Gulf states targeted Sunday? What were the full results of the Saturday night U.S. strikes? What specific Iranian military installations were degraded, and how effectively? And what comes next, does Tehran escalate further, or does the weight of American firepower force a recalculation?
The administration's posture, as conveyed through CENTCOM's statements and the unnamed official's comment about a "bigger" wave, points toward continued operations rather than a pause. Trump's broader stance on Iran has left little ambiguity about his willingness to use force.
Iran chose to widen this fight to six countries and declare a critical international waterway closed. The United States responded with strikes that were still landing hours after they began. When a regime picks a fight with the world's most capable military and then lies about the results, the question is not whether the response was justified, it's whether it was enough.