Trump targets Iran’s infrastructure in bid to squeeze regime

The U.S. military is widening its attacks across Iran, striking a port facility, energy infrastructure and bridges as President Trump looks to squeeze the Iranian regime. 

Iran has retaliated against nearby allies, targeting U.S. bases in the region, along with power and desalination plants, as tensions escalate, bringing both sides closer to an all-out war. 

The intensified fighting comes as the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is in shambles and the two countries wrestle over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy shipping waterway, where traffic has plummeted over the last two weeks. 

Ret. Vice Adm. John W. “Fozzie” Miller, who was the commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said it was important for the U.S. to change the “calculus” by striking bridges, railway infrastructure, command and control centers – anything that Tehran might use to supply weaponry – like missiles, drones, fast boats – to take military control of the strait. 

“I think we should continue to expand that to include other ways all over the country where the regime has capability that allows them to exercise command and control and allows them to exercise power over people and so I think this is a positive development,” Miller said in an interview with The Hill. 

The U.S. forces conducted airstrikes for the seventh consecutive night on Friday, striking bridges around Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Persian Gulf, which is the headquarters of the Iranian Navy and handles more than 85 percent of the country’s container traffic. 

U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced on Friday evening that U.S. forces concluded strikes around 9:30 p.m. EDT, and once again hit Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage and maritime capabilities.

Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported attacks in and around the city Thursday and said that several bridges and highways connecting the hub to provinces were closed down. 

Miller, the ex-commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, called Bandar Abbas “sort of the center of gravity for the Strait of Hormuz region, and for whoever wants to control that.” 

Strikes landed in Bandar Khamir, a port city west of Bandar Abbas, in the Hormozgan province, hitting a major bridge that ignited a fire. 

The U.S. military is also hitting ballistic missiles, launch systems, and also drone inventory and storage sites to curb Iran’s ability to retaliate against U.S. bases in the Gulf. 

“Isolating the Strait........

© The Hill