U.S., Iran exchange fresh attacks after Hormuz blockade resumes

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday that it had completed a seven-hour wave of strikes against Iran, "hitting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas," hours after resuming a naval blockade in the strait.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted the MQ-9 drone deployment ramp at U.S. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait in retaliation for U.S. attacks, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

In addition, the IRGC said it had struck U.S. military facilities at the al-Azraq base in Jordan and had also destroyed the command and control center, naval support management center, warehouses, and fuel tanks at the U.S. Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain in a "crushing response" on Wednesday.

The IRGC warned that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the "end of America's evils."

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would expand its strikes on Iran to target power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran agrees to negotiate.

"Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. "We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate."

The U.S. president said that Iran's military has been "degraded to a very low level" after repeated U.S. strikes and that the attacks will continue "until I say it's enough."

Meanwhile, Trump told Fox that his representatives had been in contact with Iranian officials recently.

When asked what message was delivered to Iran, Trump said: "You better make a deal. You're not going to have anything left."

Trump's remarks came amid the latest escalation of the conflict between the United States and Iran.

On Tuesday, U.S. forces launched another round of strikes against Iranian targets for a fourth day in a row and reimposed the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

"U.S. forces resumed the naval blockade against vessels transiting to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas today at 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT)," CENTCOM said in a statement.

The U.S. military launched fresh strikes against Iran shortly before the blockade, aiming to "continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz," it said.