The Iranian military has announced attacks on the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and a US air base in Kuwait after the US struck a tanker attempting to reach Iran’s Kharg Island, as the region is again on the brink of plunging back into full-scale war.
Iran also said that its attacks came after the US bombed a telecommunications antenna, and Iranian media reported blasts on Iran’s Qeshm Island. “Following the US attack on a telecommunications antenna and an Iranian oil tanker, we targeted the United States Fifth Fleet and a US air base in the region,” the Iranian Armed Forces said in a statement, according to Iran’s IRIB broadcaster.
US Central Command had announced the strike on the tanker hours earlier and later put out a statement on the Iranian attacks, claiming the drones and missiles Iran launched were defeated. CENTCOM also confirmed that it bombed Qeshm Island, framing the attack as “self-defense” despite engaging in a blockade against Iran, a continuation of the war of aggression the US and Israel launched on February 28.
“Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors; however, all failed to hit their intended targets. Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart enroute, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by US and Bahrain air defense forces,” CENTCOM said.
“Moments earlier, US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces shot down three one-way attack drones launched by Iran toward civilian mariners that were rightfully transiting regional waters. American forces also conducted self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island,” the command added.
Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute, cited an Iranian source who told him Iran’s attacks were part of a new strategy to respond more strongly to US strikes. “Iranian source tells me Iran has stopped playing the tit-for-tat game. Instead, it’s now striking back ‘at least 1.5x as hard’ for every attack the US against Iran,” Parsi wrote on X.
In its statement on its attack on the tanker, US Central Command said that its forces fired a Hellfire missile into the ship, marking at least the sixth time the US has attacked and “disabled” a civilian vessel while enforcing the blockade on Iran.
“US Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against Botswana-flagged M/T Lexie as it transited international waters toward Kharg Island,” CENTCOM said.
“The ship’s crew ignored repeated warnings, failing to comply with directions from US forces multiple times over a 24-hour period. A US aircraft ultimately disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room, preventing the tanker from reaching Iran,” the command said, adding that its forces have “disabled” a total of six commercial ships so far.
The incident came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it attacked the MSC Sariska, a Panamanian-flagged ship it claimed was affiliated with the US and Israel, though the MSC shipping company said the vessel was not associated with either country. The IRGC said the attack on the Sariska was in response to the last US attack on a commercial ship, which occurred on May 29 and also involved a US aircraft firing a Hellfire missile.