US military says hit Iran missile sites near strait with ‘bunker buster’ bombs

2026-03-18 - 01:30

The 5,000-pound deep-penetrator munitions were still less powerful than the 30,000-pound bombs the US dropped on Iran last year. (US Air Force pic) WASHINGTON: The US military said Tuesday it had hit Iranian missile sites near the strategic Strait of Hormuz with some of the most powerful bombs in the US arsenal. “US forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz,” Central Command said in a statement on X. “The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait.” The bombing raid comes after Iran closed off the strategic waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows, in retaliation for the war on the country by the United States and Israel. The bomb – which according to an Air Force Times report in 2022 cost an estimated US$288,000 each – are still less powerful than the 30,000-pound (13,600kg) bombs dropped by the US against Iranian nuclear sites last year.