The U.S. military drops multiple GBU-72 bunker-buster bombs to strike Iran missile sites.

The U.S. Central Command said in a social media post on 17 (local time) that on that day, the U.S. military used multiple 5,000-lb bunker-buster bombs to strike Iranian missile sites along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz. Reports say that the bunker-buster bombs are of the model GBU-72. The U.S. Central Command claimed that at the locations they struck with the bunker-buster bombs, they deployed Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles, “posing a threat to international shipping within the strait.” An unnamed U.S. official said that the U.S. military used GBU-72 bunker-buster bombs, a bomb model first put into use by the U.S. military in 2021. A 2021 announcement released by the U.S. Air Force said that the GBU-72 was “developed specifically to tackle the challenge of strikes against fortified deep-buried targets.” (CCTV News)