By Paul Joseph
The United States military says it has destroyed a surveillance tower at Iran’s Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar, claiming the facility had long been used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to monitor and coordinate attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement was made on Friday by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which described the strike as part of its ongoing military campaign against Iran.
According to CENTCOM, the tower formed a key component of Iran’s maritime surveillance network along the Gulf of Oman and played a role in tracking civilian shipping.
“The destruction of the tower directly degrades the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members,” the command said in a statement.
It added that the operation was aimed at safeguarding freedom of navigation through one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also shared footage on X showing what appeared to be the tower collapsing following the strike.
Iranian state media confirmed that the port facility had come under a fresh round of US attacks but did not immediately confirm the destruction of the surveillance tower. Iranian authorities, however, maintained that the structure was used to monitor commercial maritime traffic.
The latest operation forms part of what CENTCOM described as the sixth consecutive night of US strikes targeting Iranian military infrastructure.
Other reported targets included bridges in Hormozgan Province, transport routes linked to Bandar Khamir near the Strait of Hormuz, air defence systems, military logistics facilities and coastal missile positions.
The Strait of Hormuz remains at the centre of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran after Iran moved earlier this year to restrict commercial traffic through the strategic waterway, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments and around 20 per cent of global liquefied natural gas exports.
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