Day 153 of the WarThursday, July 30, 2026
Day 153 — CENTCOM's Heavy Wave Hits Dozens of IRGC Targets Across Southern Iran; Iran Fires at Jordan and Kuwait
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Southern IranQeshm
CENTCOM's Heavy Wave — Dozens of IRGC Targets From Ahvaz to Abu Musa
Iran- CENTCOM says that at 10 p.m. ET on July 29 it completed a heavy wave of strikes on dozens of IRGC targets in Iran — command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities — in response to the July 28 missile attempt; over 50,000 U.S. personnel in the region are on full alert.source
- Open Source Intel maps confirmed strikes on Qeshm, Bandar Abbas, Kish, Abu Musa, Ahvaz, Abadan, Bushehr, and Kazerun, with unconfirmed reports from Khorramshahr, Mahshahr, Farashband, Nurabad, and Sirik — one of the most geographically widespread waves of the campaign.source
- Sentinel-2 imagery shows the Ministry of Intelligence headquarters in Ahvaz destroyed, per Open Source Intel, while Babak Taghvaee shares videos of massive secondary explosions near Abadan that he believes followed a U.S. HIMARS-launched missile strike from Kuwait.source
- CENTCOM released video of a strike on a missile launch site near Bandar Abbas that it says was used to fire anti-ship cruise missiles toward the Strait of Hormuz, LiveIranNews reports.source
Qeshm Counts Its Dead — a Family Home Hit, Three IRGC Personnel Named
Iran- Official agencies, citing Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, say three members of one family, including a child, were killed and two other children wounded in Qeshm's Chah Tangoo neighborhood; RadioFarda says it cannot independently verify the report.source
- Babak Taghvaee shares footage of responders trying to free two civilians trapped under a house hit in a Qeshm village, while local reports cited by LiveIranNews claim a house struck in the Minabi neighborhood was used by Basij and IRGC forces; neither account is independently verified.source
- The IRGC's Ansar al-Mahdi branch in Zanjan announced three of its personnel — Mahmoud Malajbari, Mohammad Reza Cheraghi, and Jamal Amiri — were killed in the dawn strikes, without saying where; no strikes had been reported in Zanjan, per Iran International.source
January's Dead — Stories Families Were Told to Keep Quiet
- Amirmohammad Hatami, 18, of Shahin Shahr, was shot in the leg on January 9 and detained alive; after his family searched IRGC bases, prisons, and the forensic medicine office for 20 days, his body was handed over in a black bag bearing signs of torture, LiveIranNews reports.source
- IranWire reports the son of Amir Jalini, who died after his arrest near Tehranpars on January 8, released a video from his father's grave on the anniversary of his father's birth; the family had been told for days that Jalini was in custody.source
- An eyewitness told Iran International that part of Isfahan's Al-Zahra hospital has been placed under security control since death-row protester Alireza Sepahi, who reportedly suffered a heart attack before his scheduled execution, was brought there.source
No F-35s Lost, CENTCOM Says — and a 10–14 Day Plan on Trump's Desk
- CENTCOM rejected IRGC claims that three F-35s and three other U.S. aircraft were destroyed, saying no U.S. aircraft were destroyed or damaged and all missiles and drones were intercepted or missed; it added the tanker M/T Nora did not breach the blockade.source
- CENTCOM says more than 20 warships, hundreds of aircraft, and thousands of personnel are enforcing the blockade, and that as of July 30 it has redirected 24 commercial vessels, disabled two, and boarded two.source
- The Wall Street Journal reports CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper has prepared a plan for 10 to 14 days of intensive airstrikes aimed at Iran's missile capabilities, arguing limited strikes have failed to deter Tehran; Trump must choose between it, a narrower strike, or diplomacy, per Iran International.source
- Politico reports growing Republican unease over fuel prices, U.S. military deaths, and the war's uncertain end ahead of the midterms, and says European allies have refused to join Washington's Hormuz maritime mission without a ceasefire first.source
Iran Hits Back — Jordan, Kuwait, and Two Tankers in Hormuz
- Jordan's army said its air defenses intercepted five ballistic missiles on Thursday morning after launches were filmed from Khomein, Yazd, and Tabriz; the IRGC claims it targeted Al Azraq air base over a U.S. strike it says came from Jordanian soil, and no casualties were reported.source
- Kuwait's Defense Ministry says an Iranian attack hit a building of a Chinese company in the north of the country, killing a worker and causing heavy damage; the IRGC separately claimed it destroyed two drone hangars and a fuel tank at Ali Al Salem air base.source
- The IRGC said it targeted two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday evening, leaving one badly on fire, and declared that 'the aggressor will be punished today' and that the Strait will not open while it faces U.S. threats, per Iran International.source
- Egypt's government says initial investigations show a drone attack caused the fire on two ships at Damietta port, adding that no group or country has yet claimed responsibility, RadioFarda reports.source