The U.S. military launched a new wave of airstrikes against military targets in Iran on Wednesday in an unusual daytime operation.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes targeted military assets that had been used by Iranian forces to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

The operation began at 6:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time, the first daytime strikes since the “ceasefire” took effect.

Meanwhile, Iranian officials intensified their threats against the United States with increasingly aggressive rhetoric.

Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran’s former foreign minister and now a member of parliament, called for a ground raid on a U.S. military base in the region.

“My proposal is that we launch a ground assault on one of the American bases in the region, capture 100 Americans, and bring them to Iran,” Mottaki said.

The Iranian military said seven career soldiers and conscripts were killed in a U.S. strike on the Bampur military base in southeastern Iran, adding that it would respond to the attack.

Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani claimed that at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent U.S. strikes in southern Iran. Iran’s Health Ministry also reported more than 260 people wounded.

In Tehran’s Revolution Square, authorities erected a large display featuring an image of President Donald Trump inside a coffin alongside a billboard stating, “We will kill Trump.”

Overnight Tuesday, the U.S. military carried out a fourth consecutive seven-hour attack on Iran, targeting dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran’s coastline, including missile and drone sites, naval capabilities, and coastal defense systems.

Meanwhile, Trump threatened to destroy vital Iranian infrastructure next week if Tehran continues to refuse to engage in negotiations for a deal.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said: “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, we’re going to hit them very hard tomorrow night, we’re going to hit them very hard the night after. And then next week it gets really bad for them…we’re going to knock out all their power plants, we’re going to knock out all their bridges, unless they get to the table and negotiate.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)