Live updates: US says it destroyed Iranian naval ships and minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz | CNN

• Focus on strait: The US military said it destroyed Iranian naval ships — including 16 minelayers — near the Strait of Hormuz. Sources told CNN earlier that Tehran has begun laying mines in the waterway, the world’s most important energy chokepoint, through which about one-fifth of all crude oil travels. • Tehran airport: Video geolocated by CNN shows explosions coming from the direction of Tehran’s Mehrabad International Airport. This comes as the Israeli military said it had begun a new wave of strikes on Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday. • Baghdad target: A suspected Iranian drone hit a US diplomatic facility in Iraq on Tuesday, two sources told CNN. Iran has been targeting US military and diplomatic installations as it retaliates against ongoing US and Israeli military operations. • “Most intense”: Iran’s revolutionary guards claimed they launched their “most intense and heaviest operation” since the start of the war, state media reported. Turkey on Tuesday said a US Patriot air defense system was deployed to a southeastern province as part of “enhanced air and missile” defense measures by NATO. “In light of recent developments in our regi