US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday that US forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz, as part of Operation Epic Fury.
“The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait," said CENTCOM.
Earlier on Tuesday, CENTCOM published footage showing US forces destroying Iranian targets that pose threats to Americans and Iran's neighbors.
US President Donald Trump demanded over the weekend that NATO countries take part in protecting ships and oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. However, a large number of alliance members swiftly announced they would refuse the request.
On Monday, Trump again repeated his calls, noting that "many countries' economies depend on the strait."
He called on "other nations whose economy depend on the strait, far more than ours. We get less than one percent of oil from the Strait. Many of the Europeans get quite a bit. So we want them to come and help us with the strait. It is in very good shape. We've already taken care of Iran, but now, because of the fact that a single terrorist can put something in the water, or shoot a missile, and it's fairly close range because it's a small area and Iran has used that as an economic weapon."
Trump added, “The level of enthusiasm ... for forty years we have been protecting them, and they don't want to get involved with something that is very minor. And with all of the protecting of countries, we'll protect them and if ever needed, they won't be there for us. I've always known that."