TEHRAN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Explosions were heard in a number of Iranian provinces on Friday night as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the launch of a new round of strikes against Iran, Iranian media reported.

Three boys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background, off Bandar Abbas, Iran, July 13, 2026. (Photo: AP)

The semi-official Mehr news agency said the explosions were reported in Bushehr province as well as Hormozgan province's Sirik and Qeshm counties, with no details yet available on the targets, casualties, or damage caused.

Meanwhile, the official IRNA news agency said five blasts were heard in Iran's central Yazd province.

CENTCOM said in a post on social media platform X on Friday night that it has launched a new round of strikes against Iran for the seventh consecutive night, adding that the strikes "are designed to continue degrading Iranian military capabilities."

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced in a statement on Friday that its forces earlier in the day targeted a depot housing U.S. unmanned surface vessels in Bahrain and destroyed a large number of them.

Making the announcement in a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC added that its retaliatory missile and drone strikes also targeted the main artificial intelligence center in Bahrain, which was used by the United States to detect targets and commit "war crimes," and completely destroyed it.

In another statement on Friday, the IRGC said its air defense forces shot down an AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven drone over Ramshir County in the southwestern Khuzestan province.