Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that it had launched fresh attacks on US military assets in Kuwait, claiming to have “completely destroyed" fuel storage tanks and Patriot air defence systems at Ali Al-Salem Air Base, along with a strategic FPS radar system at Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base.
The IRGC said the strikes formed part of the third phase of its “eye-for-an-eye" campaign against the United States. According to the force, its aerospace division carried out the operation in response to recent US military strikes on Iran, adding that the “operations were continuing" across the region, Al Jazeera reported.
Tehran also warned Washington against any further military involvement in the Strait of Hormuz, saying it would not tolerate continued foreign intervention in the strategically important waterway. The Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly one-fifth of global energy supplies pass, has become a major point of contention in US-Iran negotiations aimed at ending the conflict.
Kuwait remains one of Washington's closest partners in the Gulf and hosts about 13,000 US military personnel, making it one of the largest operational hubs for US Central Command (CENTCOM). Both Ali Al-Salem Air Base and Ahmed Al-Jaber Air Base play a key role in US regional air defence operations.
In a statement carried by Iran's IRNA news agency, the Iranian army said its drone operations against US military installations in the region were continuing. It added that “destructive drone" attacks had struck American forces in Kuwait as well as defence and missile systems.
The army also denounced what it described as repeated US attacks on Iranian military installations, civilian infrastructure and civilians, calling them a “blatant violation" of the fundamental principles of the United Nations (UN) Charter, Al Jazeera reported.
Earlier in the day, the IRGC announced that it had struck multiple facilities at Bahrain's Sheikh Isa airbase during the second phase of its retaliatory campaign, according to Al Jazeera.
The force said its aerospace units targeted helicopter maintenance facilities, a hangar housing a P-8 aircraft and a US military drone command-and-control centre at the base.
The latest escalation followed fresh US strikes inside Iran early Monday. CENTCOM said the operation was launched in response to attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US military said the objective of the strikes was to “continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships“. In a post on ‘X’, it said: “At 5 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz."
The renewed hostilities came after Tehran targeted a commercial vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz early Sunday. The ship's crew was forced to abandon the vessel after it caught fire following the strike.
With fighting intensifying once again across West Asia, prospects for restoring normal shipping through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz appear increasingly uncertain, adding to economic pressures as countries grapple with rising energy and fuel costs.
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