Another round of US Iran conflict: airstrikes, casualties and the collapse of diplomatic dialogue

Escalation in the Middle East continues to gain momentum. Each new wave of strikes is not just a tactical move but a twist in tensions that moves further away from a diplomatic solution. While military aircraft carry out precision strikes and Iranian officials speak of dozens of civilian casualties, the negotiation process remains frozen. The cost of the conflict is measured not only in destroyed infrastructure but also in human lives and lost opportunities for peace.

On Wednesday morning, US military command completed another wave of strikes on Iran, according to a statement from US Central Command. During the 90 minute operation, US forces used precision guided munitions to strike coastal defence systems, as well as cruise missile storage and launch sites on Greater Tunb Island, the command said. The statement added that US forces redirected two commercial vessels attempting to break the blockade after the resumption of naval operations against Iranian ports.

Earlier on Wednesday, the command announced the start of a wave of strikes on Iran at 6:00 am Eastern Time (10:00 GMT) aimed at "further degrading military capabilities that Iranian forces have used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz". Late on Tuesday, US military officials said they had struck dozens of military targets, including missile and drone sites, naval facilities and coastal defence systems, near the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian coast, in strikes that lasted seven hours.

Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday that more than 30 civilians had been killed in the recent US strikes in southern Iran. On the same day, Hossein Kermanpour, head of public relations at Iran's Health Ministry, said in a post on X that more than 260 Iranians had been wounded in the latest series of US attacks against Iran this month.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in an interview aired on Tuesday on Iranian state television IRIB that the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz is of no concern to the United States, which he said President Donald Trump had acknowledged. However, he said the United States does not want Iran to exercise full sovereignty over the strategic waterway. Noting that Iran never left the negotiating table, Gharibabadi said it was the United States that tore up the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, and that Iran will not be the first to bow and start talks with the US.

Greater Tunb Island is located in the Strait of Hormuz and is the subject of a territorial dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The US Iran conflict escalated after Iran closed the strait and the US carried out a series of airstrikes on Iranian infrastructure. Despite a memorandum of understanding signed in June, the sides have returned to open confrontation.

As CCTV+ reports. International observers have expressed concern over the escalation and called on both sides to return to the negotiating table.