The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a statement announcing that, in a “joint missile and drone operation,” it targeted 85 locations across U.S. military facilities at Salman Port, the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. The IRGC also claimed to have shot down an American strike drone.
Simultaneously, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that it had targeted the Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain in a drone attack. The Army’s public relations office stated that the operation was carried out in retaliation for the “hostile U.S. aggression against military and civilian areas in southern Iran” and what it termed a “blatant violation of the memorandum of understanding” between Tehran and Washington.
The Army’s statement noted that “gathering centers of hostile U.S. forces” at the Sheikh Isa base were targeted with offensive drones. The Army further warned that if the conflict continues, it will consider all U.S. bases in the region as “legitimate targets.”
These strikes were carried out just hours after CENTCOM announced attacks on 80 targets in southern Iran, stating that the operation was in response to attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Officials of the Islamic Republic have described those strikes, as well as the U.S. cancellation of Iran’s oil waivers, as a “clear violation” of the terms of the memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington.
