Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has said it targeted an American air base in the region, after fresh US strikes on southern Iran overnight. Kuwait, which hosts a US base, said it had intercepted hostile missile and drone threats, but did not confirm the target.

 

The Iranian missile launch came after the US shot down Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz and struck a military site in Bandar Abbas, a strategic port city in southern Iran. It is the second time in three days that the US has attacked targets in Iran – saying they were conducted in self-defence. The renewed hostilities threaten a fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. 

 

Quoting IRGC, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB said, the attack on the US air base took place in the early hours today morning and targeted the source of earlier US strikes on Iran. US Central Command (Centcom) said Iran’s attack on Kuwait was an egregious ceasefire violation that occurred hours after Iranian forces launched five one-way attack drones that posed a clear threat in and near the Strait of Hormuz. It said all the drones were intercepted and that a sixth drone launched from an Iranian ground control site in Bandar Abbas was also prevented.

 

Centcom described its actions as measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai, meanwhile, condemned the US strikes and said they constituted a violation of the ceasefire. He added that the Islamic Republic would take all necessary measures to defend its national sovereignty, according to quotes cited by IRIB.