{"id":8698,"date":"2026-07-17T14:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8698"},"modified":"2026-07-17T14:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T09:44:33","slug":"iran-says-it-hit-u-s-command-center-in-syria-as-hormuz-fight-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=8698","title":{"rendered":"Iran says it hit U.S. command center in Syria as Hormuz fight escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/8391784274279\/2026\/upi_com\/115c32b07e72879b4cbbe1ef78dd1c7e\/v1.5\/Iran-says-it-hit-US-command-center-in-Syria-as-Hormuz-fight-escalates.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>An anti-U.S. billboard that hangs at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, features a sentence in Persian that reads &#8220;Blood for Blood,&#8221; on Thursday. Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 17 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> Iran early Friday said it struck a U.S. special operations command center in southeastern Syria, escalating the war over the Strait of Hormuz, as the United States attacked bridges and other urban infrastructure in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guard_Corps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\" class=\"tpstyle\">Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps<\/a> described the strike in <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sepah\/70495\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a> as a &#8220;surprise attack&#8221; conducted in retaliation for the seven soldiers killed early Wednesday in a U.S. attack on Bampur, near Iranshahr in southeastern Iran.\n<\/p>\n<p>The elite military unit claimed to have destroyed a U.S. radar system and several special-operations helicopters. It claimed to have killed &#8220;a large number&#8221; of Americans.<\/p>\n<p>State-run media reported Iran also attacked U.S. bases and assets in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for the U.S. attacks hours earlier. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/iribnews_irib\/status\/2077976753159725183?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">claimed<\/a> the United States destroyed five bridges around <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Bandar_Abbas\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Bandar Abbas\" class=\"tpstyle\">Bandar Abbas<\/a> near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Central Command <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CENTCOM\/status\/2077932932400865598?s=20\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> it had completed a &#8220;major wave&#8221; of attacks on Iran at 9:40 p.m. EDT Thursday. It said it hit dozens of Iranian military targets, including coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure and maritime capabilities.\n<\/p>\n<p>Though CENTCOM made no mention of civilian infrastructure, President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/topic\/Donald_Trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Donald Trump\" class=\"tpstyle\">Donald Trump<\/a> on Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.upi.com\/Top_News\/World-News\/2026\/07\/15\/US-Iran-Hormuz-war\/9301784097079\/\" target=\"_blank\">warned<\/a> that the U.S. military would be ramping up its attacks through the week and would include civilian targets, but explicitly stating, &#8220;Next week comes the bridges.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While the war began in late February, with the Trump administration seeking to dismantle Iran&#8217;s nuclear weapons program and encourage regime change, this latest chapter is centered on the vital shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration is seeking to restore freedom of navigation through the chokepoint, while Iran is fighting to maintain the leverage afforded by its ability to restrict passage.<\/p>\n<p>Early Friday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukmto.org\/recent-incidents#ffe5ed42-0f2c-4224-8d94-c503a68ee665\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> a tanker had been struck by an unknown projectile, causing minor damage to its port side.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All crew are safe and accounted for,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p>The strike is at least the eighth attack on a commercial ship to attack in the Strait of Hormuz in a little over a week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An anti-U.S. billboard that hangs at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, features a sentence in Persian that reads &#8220;Blood for Blood,&#8221; on Thursday. Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh\/EPA July 17 (UPI) &#8212; Iran early Friday said it struck a U.S. special operations command center in southeastern Syria, escalating the war over the Strait of Hormuz, as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/8391784274279\/2026\/1\/115c32b07e72879b4cbbe1ef78dd1c7e\/v1.5\/Iran-says-it-hit-US-command-center-in-Syria-as-Hormuz-fight-escalates.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}