Washington / Tehran — In an audacious show of firepower, the United States has carried out nearly 900 air and missile strikes against targets across Iran in a rare, broad‑daylight operation, shattering the usual pattern of night raids and sending shockwaves through the region.

For more than three hours, contrails from U.S. jets and incoming cruise missiles were clearly visible over multiple Iranian provinces as explosions rocked airbases, radar sites, missile depots and Revolutionary Guard command centers. Local residents filmed towering plumes of smoke and fireballs rising above cities and coastal installations, flooding social media with images of chaos in full daylight.

Pentagon officials say the decision to strike during daytime was deliberate — a calculated move to “break Iran’s sense of sanctuary” and hit high‑value targets that are harder to locate at night, including mobile missile batteries and leadership convoys. B‑1 bombers, carrier‑based fighters, drones and submarine‑launched cruise missiles were all used in what one senior officer called “the most concentrated single‑day assault of this campaign.”

Iranian state TV vowed that the “cowardly massacres under the sun” would be avenged, even as emergency crews battled fires at multiple military and industrial sites. The Revolutionary Guard claims to have shot down several drones and missiles, insisting that its “core capabilities remain intact.”

Global markets reacted instantly: oil prices spiked, airlines rerouted around Iranian airspace, and diplomats scrambled to convene emergency sessions. Analysts warn that by taking the fight into the open sky and hammering Iran in broad daylight, Washington has signaled that this is no longer a limited confrontation — but a grinding air war with no clear end in sight.