U.S. Military Strikes Iran for the 11th Consecutive Night, Lasting 75 Minutes

On July 21, Xinhua News Agency reported from Washington (reporters Huang Qiang and Xu Jianmei) that the U.S. Central Command announced on social media that the U.S. military concluded a new round of strikes against military targets in Iran at 8:15 PM Eastern Time on the 21st (8:15 AM Beijing Time on the 22nd), marking the 11th consecutive night of such actions by the U.S. military.

According to the U.S. Central Command, the strikes began at 7 PM Eastern Time, targeting Iran's military operations centers, maritime combat facilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure "to further weaken Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz."

The U.S. Central Command stated that over the past three months, Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. Since early May, the U.S. military "has assisted approximately 900 commercial vessels and 450 million barrels of crude oil to safely transit the strait."

On the 21st, the U.S. Central Command also posted on social media that the U.S. Navy continues to enforce a maritime blockade against Iran. As of that day, the U.S. military had caused 8 commercial vessels to change course and rendered one commercial vessel incapacitated.

On the same day, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a statement saying that a U.S. soldier went missing on the 17th during an attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan from Iran, and this individual "is believed to be deceased." The statement noted that the soldier was 28 years old, and the incident is still under investigation. Consequently, since the large-scale military operations launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran at the end of February, the U.S. military death toll has risen to 18.