The US military dropped 5,000-pound bunker buster bombs on underground Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz Tuesday, according to authorities.
The massive attack announced by US Central Command came as the war with Iran had staunched the flow of shipping through the vital Persian Gulf waterway.
“Hours ago, 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,” the regional command said on X around 7 p.m. EST.
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“The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait,” CENTCOM added.
A US official told CNN that the munitions were the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator, an explosive first released by US aircraft in 2021.
The massive bomb was developed to “overcome hardened, deeply buried target challenges and designed for both fighter and bomber aircraft,” according to a US Air Force press release from 2021.
The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed by an Iranian blockade using mines, drones and ships, halting 27% of global maritime energy and causing oil prices to surge above $100 per barrel.
