The U.S. military said on the 21st (local time) that it struck underground missile facilities along Iran's coastline near the Strait of Hormuz, weakening Iran's military capabilities.
Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the central region, gave this briefing on the status of the anti-Iran military operation entering its 22nd day in a video posted to Central Command's X (formerly Twitter) account that day.
Cooper said, "Early this week we dropped multiple 5,000-pound (about 2.3 tons) bombs on underground facilities along Iran's coastline."
He explained that the facilities had been used to covertly store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers, and other equipment that threaten international shipping.
Earlier, Central Command released that on the 17th it struck missile bases around Iran's coastline near the Strait of Hormuz with 5,000-pound-class bunker-buster munitions.
Cooper said, "We not only destroyed those facilities, but we also destroyed intelligence support facilities used to monitor ship movements and missile radar relay facilities," adding, "As a result, Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz has been degraded."
He added, "We will not stop attacks on such targets."
He also said that, together with partner countries in the Middle East, they have defended against thousands of Iranian drone attacks.
He said, "We continue to focus on dismantling Iran's decadeslong threats that hinder free commercial activity in the Strait of Hormuz."
He said, "Over the past three weeks Iran has lost significant combat capability," adding, "We are neutralizing thousands of Iranian missiles and advanced attack drones, as well as Iranian naval power used to harass international shipping."
He also said, "We have struck more than 8,000 military targets, including 130 Iranian vessels," adding, "This is the largest scale of naval power destruction achieved over three weeks since World War II."