US forces have taken their first major step in trying to take control of the Strait of Hormuz, Central Command announced on Tuesday. US CENTCOM on X notified that troops had successfully employed ‘multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz’.
The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait, according to CENTCOM. The Strait of Hormuz has been put in a chokehold by Iranian forces since the start of the war which saw US and Israel strikes take out Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
As a result of this chokehold, ships fearing strikes did not go through the strait, massively disrupting maritime traffic and causing a global surge in energy prices.
These 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions are also called bunker busters and are used to take strike targets which are hardened or buried deep.
The US action in Hormuz comes after President Donald Trump was left fuming at his NATO allies, who refused to help the US take control of the Strait of Hormuz.
