U.S. Military Reports 12th Straight Night of Strikes on Iran and Resumes Blocking Iranian Ports

The U.S. military said it carried out a 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran and, in the same announcement, said it has resumed blocking commercial traffic to and from Iranian ports, widening the impact of its campaign beyond military targets. In a July 23 statement, U.S. Central Command said, “At 10:30 p.m. ET on July 22,” its forces “completed another round of strikes against Iran for the 12th consecutive night.”

CENTCOM said U.S. forces struck Iranian military targets, including “maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, and air defense assets.” It said the goal was to reduce Iran’s ability to threaten shipping, saying the strikes “further degrade Iran's ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels.” CENTCOM also said more than 50,000 U.S. service members are operating across the Middle East.

The same statement said U.S. forces had resumed a naval blockade and were directly intervening in shipping linked to Iranian ports. “As of today,” CENTCOM said, U.S. forces had redirected nine commercial vessels and disabled one to prevent ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports. That account is a U.S. military claim. The move raises the stakes around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf that carries a significant share of the world’s seaborne oil trade.

Reuters and other major outlets reported the CENTCOM announcement, including the 10:30 p.m. Eastern completion time and the list of targets cited by the U.S. military. Reuters said video distributed by CENTCOM from the operation could not be independently verified. CENTCOM’s statement on this latest wave did not provide casualty figures, and the U.S. military did not publicly detail the extent of damage beyond the target categories it listed.

Iranian state and semi-official media reported explosions in parts of southern and western Iran overnight from July 22 to July 23. Some of those outlets also reported casualties, but those claims were not independently verified in the available reporting. Public information from both sides remained limited as the fighting continued after a June 17 interim ceasefire framework, often referred to in reporting as the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, came under strain.

The latest escalation came a day after President Donald Trump warned on Truth Social that any Iranian attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz would trigger U.S. strikes on Iranian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants. Markets were already reacting to the renewed U.S.-Iran fighting and the threat to a vital shipping chokepoint: Oil prices rose on July 22 and July 23 as traders weighed the risk that military action and direct interference with maritime traffic could disrupt flows through Hormuz.