U.S. launches another night of strikes as battle continues over Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. announced a sixth consecutive night of strikes late Thursday in Iran. The strikes began at about 9:30 p.m. Iran time, according to U.S. Central Command.

There was no word on where the strikes took place, but said they were "to further degrade Iranian military capacities."

Loud explosions were heard in Bandar Abbas, in southern Iran along the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state TV.

Just minutes earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had wrapped up a briefing in which she was asked about the war with Iran.

"The president is not going to allow them to fire on the ships in the strait," she said. "The president has proved not just to Iran that we can hit them anytime, anywhere, any place."

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would not answer whether President Trump believes the talks with Iran are at a standstill, or even dead, though she did say the administration is still holding peace talks.

"Iran very much continues to talk to the United States of America and express that they want to make a deal with us because they are suffering devastating blows on behalf of our United States military."

Leavitt emphasized the strikes that have occurred every day this week are a direct result of Iran breaking the agreement signed in mid-June.

"The reason for the recent strikes over the course of the last several days is because Iran violated the memorandum of understanding that we struck with them," Leavitt said. "Specifically, in the memorandum of understanding that they signed, they were not to fire on commercial vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz and unfortunately they have made the tragic decision, for them, to do that."

"President Trump is not going to sit by and allow these acts of terrorism to take place in the strait without ensuring Iran pays consequences for that. And that's what we are witnessing now."

The United States has launched new strikes around Iran's Gulf island of Qeshm near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian news agencies reported on Thursday.

Fars news agency reported an "American missile strike in the vicinity of Qeshm," citing local authorities, while Tasnim news agency said one of its correspondents reported locations around Qeshm "were struck by projectiles from the American enemy."

Qeshm has been a frequent target of U.S. strikes, including multiple strikes in the past two days.

Iranian state TV also reported the port city of Bandar Abbas was targeted by the "American enemy's aggression" on Thursday evening.

The Iranian ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Ali Bahreini, has sent a letter