The United States struck the maritime traffic control tower at Iran's Chabahar port overnight, part of a wider wave of American strikes along the country's southern coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.
The tower, used to oversee vessel traffic in and out of the strait, was confirmed destroyed by Mohammad Saeed Arbabi, head of the Chabahar Free Zone Organization, according to Iran's Fars News Agency. Video geolocated by CNN showed visible damage to the exterior of the tower following the strike, along with an earlier video capturing the moment of the explosion. Iranian state media reported that the strikes also hit two marine piers at the port, including the Shahid Beheshti dock, an oceanic facility developed with Indian participation, and damaged the local police station's dock. Roughly half of Chabahar lost power in the strikes, with Sistan and Baluchestan province's electricity authority reporting that three transmission lines were damaged, two of which have since been restored. A nearby hospital was hit by debris from the strikes, according to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
Chabahar sits on the northern shore of the Gulf of Oman near Iran's border with Pakistan and serves as the country's only deep water oceanic port, giving Iran a maritime route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz entirely. The strike on its control tower came as part of a broader round of American strikes CENTCOM said targeted approximately 90 Iranian military targets, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, and naval infrastructure, aimed at degrading Iran's ability to threaten shipping in the strait. Other locations hit in the same wave of strikes included Bandar Abbas, Konarak, Bushehr, Sirik, and Qeshm Island, along with a railway bridge far to the north in Golestan province.
The strike followed President Trump's declaration at the NATO summit in Ankara that the ceasefire with Iran was over, after Iranian forces struck three commercial tankers transiting the strait earlier in the week. Trump described the wave of strikes as retribution, warning on social media that further Iranian attacks on shipping would be met with an even harsher response.
