An F-15 drops a GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator bomb, known as a “bunker buster,” during a test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on Oct. 7, 2021. The U.S. dropped several deep-penetrating bombs on hardened Iranian missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to U.S. Central Command. (Samuel King/U.S. Air Force)
U.S. forces are targeting anti-ship cruise missiles along the Iranian coast as President Donald Trump seeks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital commercial sea lane that Tehran closed in retaliation for joint American-Israeli attacks.
Multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions were used to go after hardened Iranian missile sites on the coastline along the strait, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday.
The anti-ship cruise missiles housed in those sites presented a risk to international shipping, CENTCOM said. Iran is using the missiles, along with drones and naval mines, to threaten the passage of oil tankers through the key waterway.
The U.S. has struck more than 7,000 targets in Operation Epic Fury, which began Feb. 28, including more than 100 Iranian vessels, according to CENTCOM.
The command did not answer questions about the type of deep penetrator munition. CNN reported that it was the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator, which was first used in 2021 on a range in Florida.
The military developed the 5,000-pound bomb for both fighters and bombers “to overcome hardened, deeply buried target challenges,” the Air Force said in a statement after its first release.
The test run validated that an existing “smart” bomb guidance tail kit for the Joint Direct Attack Munition could be used to control and navigate the GBU-72, the service said.
A GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator bomb, known as a “bunker buster,” is attached to an F-15 ahead of a test drop at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on Oct. 7, 2021. On Tuesday, the U.S. dropped several deep-penetrating bombs on Iranian anti-ship missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said. (Samuel King/U.S. Air Force)
In the past week, Trump has vowed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He sought to lean on European countries for help, saying the future of NATO will be “very bad” if they don’t back his efforts.
But allies have expressed reluctance to get involved in the war the U.S. launched alongside Israel. That prompted a Truth Social post in which Trump said the U.S. no longer wants or needs the help of NATO countries, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
On Tuesday, Trump also said that he’s not afraid that a ground invasion of Iran would be a repeat of the Vietnam War, and that the U.S. is not ready to leave Iran now but will do so “in the very near future.”
