The IRGC and Iranian army hit US sites in Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain after Washington carried out hundreds of strikes across Iran overnight.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian army retaliated on 9 July to Washington’s latest round of airstrikes on the Islamic Republic overnight, which consisted of hundreds of airstrikes.
“In the first phase of the punitive response against the US treaty-breakers, the IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force carried out a joint missile and drone operation shortly after the enemy’s attacks,” the IRGC said in a statement on Thursday.
“Launching strikes from various locations across the country, they targeted and destroyed key infrastructure and facilities at two US military bases in Kuwait – Arifjan and Ali al-Salem – and two bases in Bahrain – Juffair and Sheikh Isa,” the statement added.
The IRGC warned the “child-killing regime” that “crushing responses will be expanded to include” other US bases throughout the region “if aggression is repeated.”
In a separate statement, the Iranian military said it targeted a Patriot air defense system in Kuwait, an early-warning satellite antenna in Qatar, and US military fuel storage facilities in Bahrain with a large wave of attack drones.
The statement added that Iran’s armed forces “will not allow” Washington to achieve its objectives.
Footage on social media showed the moment an Iranian missile hit the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.
The retaliatory strikes began around 4:00 am, a few hours after a massive wave of US strikes across Iran.
According to Iranian media, Israel took part in the latest US assault.
IRIB reported that US-Israeli strikes hit the ports of Shahid Beheshti and Kalantari, as well as the maritime traffic control tower in Chabahar, causing power outages across half the city after three electricity lines were cut.
Two power lines have reportedly been repaired since then.
IRIB also reported that two projectiles struck Bushehr, while nearly a dozen explosions were heard on Abu Musa Island.
Several areas in Kabudarahang County were also attacked early on Thursday.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Railways (RAI) confirmed that passenger services on the Tehran–Mashhad line were suspended after a US-Israeli attack early Thursday struck a section of the railway route.
This came as Iranians continued to make their way to Mashhad for the burial of late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose casket arrived in the city on 9 July.
The deadly US-Israeli strikes coincided with the final day of Khamenei’s massive, multi-city funeral. The major escalation against Iran consisted of at least 200 strikes.
ABC News, citing a US official, reported that the strikes on Iran were on a larger scale than those of the previous night, which targeted more than 80 locations.
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said its new strikes were aimed at “holding Iran accountable” for attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation came a day after US President Donald Trump declared that the so-called ceasefire was “over,” following an IRGC and Iranian military response to US airstrikes carried out on Iran early on 8 July.
Those US attacks were a response to Iranian strikes on oil tankers that violated the new regulations imposed on the Strait of Hormuz by the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s responses targeted US military assets in Bahrain and Kuwait on Wednesday morning.
Over the past 48 hours, US attacks on Iran have killed at least 14 people and wounded 78. Forty-seven remain hospitalized, according to Tasnim News Agency.
Among the casualties were eight Iranian army officers, who were killed in the US strikes that took place early on Wednesday.
