US military says key port surveillance tower destroyed

The US military said that it had destroyed the Chabahar Shahid Kalantari ​Port surveillance tower in southeastern Iran on Thursday.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the surveillance tower was hit on July 16 and described it as being "part of a maritime surveillance network along Iran’s Gulf of Oman coastline."

CENTCOM said it has been used for decades by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) "to track and target commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz."

The US military said that the destruction of the tower "degrades IRGC’s ability to coordinate attacks on innocent civilian crew members."