WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) — The commander of U.S. Central Command briefed members of the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday morning as fighting between the United States and Iran intensified, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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Adm. Brad Cooper met with lawmakers the same day U.S. forces carried out new strikes on Iranian targets. President Donald Trump said the operation followed Iranian attempts to place sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on U.S. personnel.
“They’ve got a plan,” committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said after the briefing, adding that he would “anticipate” an intensification.
CENTCOM declined to specify which targets were struck. In a post on X, the command said U.S. forces began hitting Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets at noon Eastern time and that the strikes followed recent attempted IRGC attacks on commercial shipping in the strait and on American service members in the region.
Trump said the United States was striking Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz and described the operation as retaliation for what he called a failed Iranian effort to add sea mines to the waterway and for eight missiles fired at a U.S. base in Jordan, all of which he said were intercepted. He warned Tehran that any further retaliation would bring heavier U.S. attacks.
The latest fighting followed a U.S. strike on Iranian launchers on Larak Island that Washington said were being prepared to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait. Iran subsequently launched missiles at U.S. bases.
The exchange marked a new flare-up after more than a month of relative military calm in a conflict that has lasted more than six months. CENTCOM did not immediately provide a full battle-damage assessment, and Iranian state media reported explosions in several southern coastal areas near the strait.