Israel strikes Iranian naval base in Bandar Abbas's strategic southern port
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-strikes-iranian-naval-base-in-bandar-abbas-s-strategic-southern-port/ar-AA1HamxA?ocid=entnewsntp&;pc=DCTS&cvid=791ed31864d94796e2ebb52c30326090&ei=38
By James Genn
The Jerusalem Post
June 21, 2025
Israel's military struck storage facilities located at an Iranian naval base in Bandar Abbas, a strategic port on the Persian Gulf, the IDF said on Saturday night.
The Israel Air Force was targeting Iranian warships docked at the southern port, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed.
Air defenses were activated in the area, Iran's semi-official Tasnim News reported.
Explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas's Shahid Rajaee Port, Bandar Lengeh Port, and Shahid Bahonar Pier, according to UK-based dissident outlet Iran International.
Bandar Abbas is a key strategic point on the Strait of Hormuz, as the largest port in the region. It also serves as the headquarters of Iran's naval forces.
The IAF "continues to systematically target [Iran's] drone command chain," IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin stated earlier on Saturday. "These strikes have disrupted planned barrages and destroyed approximately 950 explosive drones before they could be launched," he added.
Part of wider IAF airstrikes across Iran on Saturday
These strikes followed a wave of Iranian drones being launched towards Israel during Friday night and early Saturday morning, triggering alert sirens across Israel's east. The drones used in these attacks were a wave of Shahed 136s, Tasnim reported.
Before striking Bandar Abbas on Saturday, the IDF struck three Iranian F-14 fighter jets in central Iran, as well as military infrastructure across the center of the country.
This, in turn, followed some 30 Israeli Air Force fighter jets striking dozens of military sites in the area of Ahvaz, in southwestern Iran, earlier on Saturday, the IDF confirmed.
Explosions were heard in the Khuzestan province in the area, from Ahvaz to Mahshahr, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-controlled Fars News reported. Smoke was rising in images shared among Iranians on social media, said to be from the area of the recent Israeli strikes.
IAF fighter jets struck a site where a storage site containing missile launchers, some of which had previously fired missiles toward Israeli territory, according to the IDF.
Explosions were also heard in Marvdasht, Tabriz, Salmas, Babol, Sanandaj, Kermanshah, Qom, and Isfahan, according to Iran International.
Is Bandar Abbas port used to smuggle weapons to Iran's Axis of Resistance?
At the end of April, Bandar Abbas was the location of a large explosion, which killed at least 60 and injured over 700 people.
The blast, on April 26, took place in the Shahid Rajaee section of the port, Iran’s biggest container hub, shattering windows for several kilometers around, tearing metal strips off shipping containers and badly damaging goods inside, state media said.
The Shahid Rajaee section was being used as a weapons storage for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF)'s Unit 190 to smuggle ballistic missile materiel to the Houthi terrorists in Yemen, Israel's public broadcaster KAN News reported.
Israel, however, denied any connection with this explosion.
Israel killed IRGC-QF's Unit 190 commander Behnam Shahriyari in a separate strike on Saturday morning.
Amichai Stein, Danielle Greyman-Kennard, Maya Gur Arieh, and Reuters contributed to this report.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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