STRAIT TO HELL

Oil price surge as Iran evacuates crucial facilities

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

FIRE IN THE SKY An Israeli missile strikes into Beirut's Bashoura district

AMERICAN bombers have dropped massive “bunker buster” high-penetration bombs on Iranian anti-ship missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz.

It is believed the 5000lb GBU-72/B Advanced Penetrators, capable of smashing targets up to 100ft underground and designed to destroy deeply buried and reinforced structures, are likely to have been delivered by the B1 Bomber.

Planes of this type were recently seen taking off from RAF Fairford, Glos, but it is not known if they were the ones used in the latest attacks on Iran's underground missile stores.

The use of the bunker busters comes as the US attempts to clear the Iranian blockade on the Strait.

The waterway, which is the world's most important oil choke point, has been blocked by Iran's stranglehold and the deadly threat of missile attacks on oil tankers.

It comes as UK Defence Minister Al Carns warned “we live in very dangerous times” with threats from Russia and the Middle East.

The former commando and war veteran said: “It's exceptionally fractious and more fractious than I've seen it probably during 24 years in my military experience.”

American Centcom, the unit that oversees all operations in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, said: “US forces successfully employed multiple 5000lb deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran's coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.”