Tehran:For the second consecutive day, the United States military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out "additional self-defence strikes" against multiple targets in Iran shortly after US President Donald Trump and his war secretary warned of hitting the Islamic Republic "hard".

According to local media reports, air defence systems were activated in the southern regions of the country, with explosions being heard in western Tehran, Fars province, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, Kish, Minab, and some areas in central Isfahan, straining the already fragile ceasefire between the two nations.

In response, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that they had struck bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the latest US strikes.

"During two waves of operations, eighteen important targets belonging to the US Army in the bases of Ali and Ahmad Ahmad Air Force (were hit)," the Guards said in a statement quoted by state-run IRNA, adding that they also "hit and destroyed Sheikh Isa air bases".

Iranian media earlier reported that Iran had attacked the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.Additionally, the IRGC, in a statement, said it has closed off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global oil shipments, to "all vessels".

"Effective immediately, due to insecurity in the region, the Strait of Hormuz is declared closed to all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships," the IRGC source said, according to a report by CNN.

Shortly after, the US CENTCOM flagged that the Iranian claim of the Strait of Hormuz being closed was false. It fact-checked the IRGC statement, noting that "Commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight" despite the fresh hostilities.

Source:Ndtv