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.
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.