US military says Iran threat to Hormuz ‘degraded’

WASHINGTON: The US military said Saturday that Iran’s ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz has been “degraded” by the bombing this week of an underground facility where it stored cruise missiles and other weaponry.

With Iran mostly closing off the Strait, the gateway for one-fifth of the world’s oil, the US military has brought out some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal to penetrate adjacent missile sites.

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said it had dropped multiple 5,000-pound bombs on a “hardened” underground facility located along Iran’s coast that it used to store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment.

“We not only took out the facility, but also destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays that were used to monitor ship movements,” Cooper said in video message posted on X.

READ MORE: Trump says US considering ‘winding down’ Iran war

“Iran’s ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz is degraded as a result, and we will not stop pursuing these targets,” he added.

CENTCOM had revealed its use of the bunker-busting bombs on Tuesday, but in his message Saturday, Cooper elaborated on their impact – as Washington comes under growing pressure to address the repercussions of the war on Iran on oil prices and global commerce.

The standoff in the Strait has sent crude oil prices soaring, with a barrel of North Sea Brent crude up more than 50 percent over the past month and now more than $105 a barrel.

On Friday, Trump slammed NATO allies as “cowards” and called on them to secure the Strait.

He also said that the United States was close to meeting its military objectives and considering “winding down” its military efforts in the Middle East.

Cooper said that the US military has so far struck over 8,000 military targets, including 130 Iranian vessels, in the past three weeks.

The 5,000-pound (2,268-kg) bombs – which according to an Air Force Times report in 2022 cost an estimated $288,000 each – are less powerful than the 30,000-pound (13,600-kg) bombs dropped by the United States on Iranian nuclear sites last year.