US says it struck Iranian port surveillance tower used to track ships
U.S. Central Command released video of a U.S. airstrike that it says destroyed a port surveillance tower that has been used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has previously described the tower as a civilian structure.
“On July 16, U.S. forces successfully destroyed the Chah Bahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower, part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said.
“The destruction of the tower directly degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members. Furthermore, the strike protects freedom of navigation in regional waters for all vessels, except for ships attempting to violate the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran,” CENTCOM said.