Following US attacks on southern Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched offensive operations using missiles, drones attacking 18 targets at US bases in the Middle East, including the Ali al-Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases in Kuwait, IRGC said in a statement.
The statement, cited by Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, states that early on Thursday, the IRGC Aerospace Force and Navy attacked “18 targets belonging to the US Army” in two waves of attacks “to punish the aggressor and in response to the attack” by the US military, including at the Ali al-Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases in Kuwait, as well as at the Sheikh Isa air base in Bahrain.
The Islamic Republic also launched a missile attack on the US Harir Air Base in northern Iraq, the Iranian news agency Nour News reported. The report said Iran also attacked a US radar site in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and US ships in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf.
The Iranian military also carried out a drone attack on the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB reported. The report said the attack targeted communications antennas and radar sites.
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump accused Tehran of stalling negotiations and stated that the United States was planning to carry out a large-scale attack against Iran. Later, Iranian media reported that air defences were activated in Fars Province and western Tehran. Explosions were also heard in the cities of Minab, Mohr, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces also reported an incursion into southern Iranian airspace by a US F-16.
Later, the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said that Iran was closing the Strait of Hormuz to all types of vessels, including oil tankers and merchant ships, due to recent US attacks on the Islamic Republic. Any vessel attempting to transit the strait would be attacked, the command added.
