Iran’s armed forces say they have launched coordinated missile and drone strikes against United States military bases and facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan, marking a significant escalation in tensions between Tehran and Washington.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and published by its official news outlet, Sepah News, the attacks were carried out jointly by the IRGC’s naval and aerospace forces in response to what Iran described as fresh US strikes on targets in southern Iran.
The IRGC claimed its forces destroyed a C-RAM radar system, a satellite communications centre and an assembly site at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base. It also said it struck a fighter jet ramp and a command centre at Jordan’s Al Azraq Air Base, while targeting a wharf at Kuwait’s Shuaiba Port.
Iran’s Army said it separately deployed domestically produced Arash drones to attack US radar systems, a Patriot missile battery and oil depots at Ali Al Salem Air Base, as well as communications and radar facilities at Bahrain’s Shaikh Isa Air Base.
In a separate statement, the IRGC said its air defence units had shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone over the southwestern city of Andimeshk in Iran’s Khuzestan province.
The latest exchange of attacks comes amid rapidly escalating hostilities between Iran and the United States. The renewed military confrontation follows reports of recent clashes despite a peace memorandum of understanding signed on 18 June, under which both countries had agreed to hold negotiations within 60 days.
There has been no immediate confirmation from the United States regarding the Iranian claims or the reported damage to its military installations.