The Middle East region has entered another phase of intense military escalation.
In the early hours of July 30, a series of powerful explosions shook a number of strategic areas in southern Iran, including the strip around the Persian Gulf.
Missile strikes on Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas
The Iranian state television Press TV and the Tasnim news agency reported at least three powerful explosions on the strategic island of Qeshm, located in the Strait of Hormuz. Local sources and IRIB correspondents in the Horgan region confirmed that detonations were also heard near the coastal city of Bandar Abbas, as well as the village of Taherouyeh. According to Press TV (presstv.co.uk), Iranian coast guard facilities and key communications infrastructure were directly targeted.
CENTCOM claims responsibility for the attack
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) published an official statement on the social network X (x.com), confirming the conduct of massive air operations on Iranian territory. The US military announced that the strikes began at 20:00 Eastern US time on July 29 (00:00 GMT on July 30). CENTCOM defined its actions as a “powerful and decisive response“ of the attempted attacks on US and allied positions in the Middle East carried out the day before.
Blockage of media propaganda in X
In parallel with the actual fighting, a serious clash has also unfolded in the information space. The social platform X (accessible at x.com) blocked and suspended the official profiles of the Iranian state news agency Tasnim in both Persian, English and Arabic. Users trying to access the pages of the media affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) receive a message about violating the network's rules.
Pentagon's record contract with Lockheed Martin
Against the backdrop of the growing conflict, the Pentagon has taken historic steps to replenish and expand its defense capabilities. The US Department of Defense has officially increased the scale of the existing contract with Lockheed Martin Corporation for the supply of anti-aircraft missile complexes and missile defense systems.
The new modification of the contract adds an additional $ 53.86 billion, bringing the total value of the mega-deal for Patriot missiles (PAC-3 MSE) to a record $58.62 billion over the next seven years. According to Reuters (reuters.com) and Bloomberg (bloomberg.com), this decision aims to triple the production capacity of interceptors by 2030 against the backdrop of serious depletion of US arsenals in the course of military actions with Iran.