Command centers and other sites hit, says CENTCOM; Trump said ‘exasperated’ by war’s lack of progress
By ToI Staff, Jacob Magid Follow and AgenciesToday, 9:25 am
A screenshot of video released by US Central Command on July 29, 2026, shows a strike on a target in Iran. (X screenshot)
US Central Command carried out “a heavy wave of strikes” on dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran, it said early Thursday, a day after the Iranian military force targeted American troops in the region with ballistic missiles.
CENTCOM described the strikes as “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on US forces based in the Middle East.”
The targets hit in the strikes included command centers, facilities for missiles and drones, and other military and surveillance sites, aiming to “further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries,” it said.
The US attacks began at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday (0000 GMT on Thursday) and ended at 10 p.m. ET (0200 GMT on Thursday), according to CENTCOM.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that one US strike hit a “residential home” on Qeshm Island in the Gulf of Hormuz, and “killed three members of a family: the father, the mother, and their 2-year-old child.”
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The Iranian report, which cited the Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, added that two other children were injured.
The wave of strikes came hours after US President Donald Trump said it was Washington’s “turn” to strike Iran after Tehran launched missiles at US assets in Jordan on Tuesday night. Jordan’s armed forces said they’d foiled an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom with five missiles.
“We’re going to be hitting them very hard. Because it’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming. They’re asking us not to do it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, noting that all five missiles fired by Iran at Jordan were knocked down.
Trump also said he was briefed on a drone attack on tankers off the coast of Egypt.
“We’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump added of diplomatic efforts with Iran.
Iranian officials have previously vowed that if the US bombs Tehran or critical Iranian infrastructure, Iran will respond by firing missiles at Tel Aviv — something it has refrained from doing since the renewal of hostilities, aiming its fire instead at US bases and other targets in Arab Gulf states.
Trump said ‘exasperated’ over war’s stagnation
According to a report Wednesday by NBC News, in a meeting last week, Trump lashed out at aides due to frustration over his military options against Iran and inability to close a deal to end the conflict.
Despite public displays of satisfaction with how the war is going, neither the president nor his top aides are pleased with the status quo, a US official told the network.
His aides also can’t agree on a path forward, the US official said, adding: “After all this time, there is no unity.”
“The president is exasperated,” said a Trump ally who has spoken with the president in recent weeks.
“I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint,” the Trump ally added. “He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied that Trump lost his temper last week.
“This is false. The president has a great team whom he trusts, and everyone on the team knows he’s the final decision-maker,” Leavitt said.
The lack of clarity on the administration’s goals for the war — whether it’s preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, ensuring the Strait of Hormuz is open or destroying Iran’s missile and drone programs — has made planning an endgame difficult, the US official told NBC.
The military has been preparing for a renewed major offensive without clear guidance, the source went on.
“We have had a series of tactical victories,” the official said. “But are facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told NBC News in a statement that the Defense Department is “locked and loaded, ready to execute the president’s directives at a moment’s notice.”
“Secretary Hegseth, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Cooper, and Chairman Caine stand completely aligned and are united in mission, strategy, and resolve regarding overseas operations involving Iran,” he added.
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