Iran’s theocratic paramilitary unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the strike on Kuwait’s international airport Wednesday that killed an Indian national and badly wounded dozens, was actually caused by a malfunctioning US Patriot missile.
Issuing a statement Thursday, Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, an IRGC spokesperson, said the theocratic guard had not fired any projectiles at the airport, and instead pinned the blame on Washington, claiming that the incident was the result of a malfunctioning US Patriot air defence system, which, after failing to intercept Iranian missiles, allegedly fell or misfired onto the airport.
The statement was rejected by CENTCOM who called it was “totally FALSE” and, said that “Iran struck the civilian airport with drones in a deliberate, calculated, and unjustified attack.”
Iran claimed its attack targeted American military bases in the Gulf in retaliation for US airstrikes on an Iranian island and an Iranian vessel that CENTCOM termed “self-defence strikes.”
Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Wednesday that the missiles and drones were intercepted, though the debris from the intercepted Iranian projectile fell to the ground, causing the destruction.
Also on Thursday, a military source told Iran’s semi-official IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News, that the footage purporting to be of the strike hitting the Kuwaiti airport was fabricated, saying that the distance between the targets they were aiming to strike and the airport was more than 24 miles.
