South Korea and Japan cautious over sending warships to Hormuz

Iran’s ballistic missile capability has fallen by about 90% and its drone capability by around 95% since the start of the US-Israeli war, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News.

Leavitt also said the United States has sunk more than 65 Iranian naval vessels and struck over 6,000 targets across the country during the two-week campaign.

“We have sunk more than 65 of their naval ships. We’ve hit more than 6,000 targets across the country, and it’s a very big country,” she said.

She added that ballistic missile attacks from Iran are now down 90% and drone capabilities down 95%, calling the operation a major success and saying Washington would continue its campaign.

“We are totally eradicating this threat of Iran building a nuclear bomb to threaten the world and to attack US troops and personnel in the region with their ballistic missile arsenal,” she said.

A fresh strike was reported on Mount Derak in Shiraz early on Sunday, according to a resident who sent footage and a report to Iran International.

The resident said satellite interference disappeared immediately after Saturday night’s attack and suggested the area may have housed a jamming tower.

Authorities in Iran’s West Azarbaijan province say they have arrested 20 people in Urmia accused of collaborating with Israel, according to the provincial prosecutor.

Hossein Majidi said the suspects were detained after intelligence and cyber monitoring operations by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence branch and Basij networks.

He alleged the group had sent information on military, police and security sites to Israel.

Heavy airstrikes were reported across Isfahan early on Sunday, with explosions heard in several parts of the city.

Videos circulating online appeared to show a fighter jet flying at low altitude over Isfahan, while other images showed thick columns of smoke rising from different areas.

According to the reports, most of the explosions were heard in the city’s northern and southern districts.

Reports from citizens across Iran on Sunday indicate increased security deployments, widespread checkpoints and new signs of military activity in several cities.

In Rasht, northern Gilan province, residents said plainclothes security agents were seen on March 14 moving through neighborhoods carrying devices larger than mobile phones, apparently searching for Starlink satellite internet signals.

Witnesses also reported nightly IRGC checkpoints from 10 p.m. on the Rasht–Astaneh highway, about one kilometer before the Astaneh bypass.

In Bandar Abbas, multiple checkpoints have been set up across the city. According to residents, roughly six out of every ten vehicles passing through the checkpoints are stopped and inspected.

Residents in Shahriar, west of Tehran, reported seeing Israeli drones flying over the Shahid residential district at around 6:25 a.m., drawing attention from locals.

In Isfahan, witnesses said several locations across the city were struck between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. Residents reported more than 15 missile impacts and said fighter jets were heard flying lower than usual. According to those accounts, air defense systems did not appear to be active at the time.

In the coastal area of Bandar Javad al-Aemmeh, southern Hormozgan province, residents reported that an IRGC base operates with an underground tunnel from which missiles are launched at night. They also said monitoring posts and towers have been installed on the nearby Shahin-Kuh heights.

In Parsian, in Hormozgan province, residents said police had set up a new checkpoint booth labeled as a “hospital,” where vehicles are being stopped and searched.