BREAKING: U.S. Air Force B-1B heavy bombers operating from RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom are now striking Iranian weapons-production facilities, including ballistic missile plants in the Khojir district of eastern Tehran.
— Babak Taghvaee - The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) July 21, 2026
At approximately 02:50 local time, residents in… pic.twitter.com/RXO302SFPP
Text:
BREAKING: U.S. Air Force B-1B heavy bombers operating from RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom are now striking Iranian weapons-production facilities, including ballistic missile plants in the Khojir district of eastern Tehran.
At approximately 02:50 local time, residents in Pardis reported the sound of distant explosions and intense air-defense activity. Witnesses near the Babaei Expressway and Shahrak-e Emam Khomeini said Iranian air defenses were actively engaging aerial targets, while the sound of aircraft was also heard. Several reports suggested the intended targets could be the Khojir and Parchin military complexes.
Between 02:50 and 02:55, additional reports from Pardis, Hakimiyeh and eastern Tehran described repeated air-defense fire and five to six explosions. Residents in Phase 11 of Pardis also reported sustained air-defense activity as the strikes continued.
11th night of strikes: Trump escalates threats to Iran's infrastructure, as US said readying to use heavy bombers
[IsraelTimes] Israeli report says US told Jerusalem it will step up strikes in coming days, will likely hit Pickaxe nuclear site; Trump pledges to target bridge or power plant for every ship attacked in Hormuz
According to a Wednesday report in Hebrew media, the US informed Israel that it will soon deploy heavy bombers for strikes on Iran, presumably targeting fortified nuclear sites, in what would be a major escalation.
"Any time the Islamic Theocratic
Republicof Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for
spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT," Trump wrote on social media.
In response to Trump’s threat to Iran’s infrastructure, an Iranian military source cited by Tasnim news agency said Tehran would retaliate against infrastructure in the region.
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf expanded on the threats, saying no one will be able to sell oil in a region where Iran is not able to do so, and adding that if Tehran’s security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe.
"The equation of this war is clear: either all or none," Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
"Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye. Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X.
In addition, Iran’s state broadcaster quoted the military as saying that US threats "will have no result other than the expansion of the war."
Iran on Wednesday fired missiles and drones at several Arab regional countries, including at Jordan’s Red Sea port of Aqaba, the interceptions of which could be heard in Israel’s southern city of Eilat.
Missile alerts also sounded in Kuwait and Bahrain. The Iranian military said it targeted US assets in both small Gulf countries, including air defense systems, radar installations and administrative buildings.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there...
Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...warned residents of the Gulf city of Dammam to seek shelter. Saudi authorities later said the danger had passed, without elaborating.
On Wednesday afternoon, a US missile hit Larak island in the strait, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, saying the extent of the damage was being investigated.
The US military said earlier Wednesday that it had completed an 11th night of strikes on Iran, with targets including aircraft hangars and drone storage sites.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported explosions across several provinces. Iran’s Health Ministry says US strikes over the past 11 days have killed 53 people, including six women and three children, and maimed nearly 600 people.
Trump had said earlier that the next US target could be an underground complex known as Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La in Persian, a site in the Natanz area where Western intelligence agencies suspect Iran is building an undeclared nuclear enrichment facility. Reports this week have quoted Israeli sources saying Iran moved thousands of centrifuges and part of its stockpile of 60-percent enriched uranium to the Pickaxe Mountain facility after the June 2025 war.
Iran threatened reprisals, with the Khatam al-Anbiya military command saying it would "consider it as an expansion of war" if such an attack were carried out, threatening strikes on "all the interests of America, the allies and supporters," the state broadcaster reported. However,
facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable...
it again denied the existence of any secret nuclear complex at the site, calling it a "fabricated pretext for aggression."
| More from the Times of Israel: |
US Central Command said it launched strikes with the aim of further degrading the Islamic Republic’s “ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
“Over the past three months, Iran has attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the international waterway vital for regional and global trade,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “The unwarranted attacks have endangered hundreds of innocent mariners and undermined freedom of navigation.”
CENTCOM insisted that the Strait of Hormuz remains open to commercial shipping despite these attacks, touting the number of vessels and barrels of oil that have transited the key waterway since early May.
U.S. Central Command has identified the soldier it had previously reported as missing as Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, 28, of Ozone Park, New York, who is now believed to have been killed in action on July 17, 2026, during an Iranian attack at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 22, 2026
Sgt.… pic.twitter.com/akpE3QlJXN
What is Pickaxe Mountain, the underground Iranian nuclear site Trump has threatened?
[IsraelTimes] Protected by anti-aircraft batteries, fencing and the IRGC, the Natanz facility sprawls a square mile and lies hundreds of feet below ground — possibly beyond bunker-buster reach.