The Iran war has entered a brutal new phase as US supercarriers and forward‑deployed bases across the Middle East unleashed a synchronized wave of strikes on Iranian military targets overnight, in what Pentagon officials describe as the largest American air operation in the region in decades.

From carrier decks in the Arabian Sea and eastern Mediterranean, F/A‑18s, F‑35s and electronic‑warfare aircraft roared into the night, while B‑2 and B‑1 bombers, stealth drones and cruise missiles launched from bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE. Their targets: air‑defense batteries, ballistic‑missile sites, naval fast‑attack hubs and Revolutionary Guard command centers ringing the Gulf.

Residents in Bandar Abbas, Bushehr and around Tehran reported rolling explosions and fires on military compounds, with Iran’s state TV acknowledging “significant damage” to coastal facilities while insisting its “strategic deterrent remains intact.” Western officials counter that the first wave has “severely degraded” Iran’s ability to launch mass salvos on Israel, Gulf cities and US bases.

At sea, US destroyers and cruisers fired volleys of Tomahawk missiles, even as they braced for retaliation from Iranian drones, anti‑ship missiles and swarming fast boats in the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf allies quietly opened their airspace and refueling tracks, turning the region’s skies into a dense web of allied jets, tankers and surveillance planes.

Iran’s leadership has vowed a “long war of attrition”, ordering proxies from Lebanon to Yemen to hit American and allied targets wherever they can. With every new launch and interception, the risk grows that this carefully choreographed strike campaign will tip into a wider regional inferno no one can fully control.