Tehran: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday it launched an “eye‑for‑an‑eye” operation, declaring missile and drone strikes on US military installations in Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait in retaliation for American attacks inside Iran, Al Jazeera reported.
Iran’s state‑affiliated Nour News Agency, cited by Al Jazeera, said the Iranian Army and the IRGC carried out “large-scale missile and drone attacks” on what it described as “enemy bases in the region.”
An Iranian military official told the news outlet the operation was ordered in response to ongoing US strikes on Iranian territory and targeted locations identified after “enemy movements” over the preceding 48 hours.
Phase One: Jordan Base Hit
In its statement, the IRGC said the first phase struck Jordan’s Prince Hassan Airbase with missiles and drones, and that the attack had set fire to “several fuel depots and ammunition storage facilities.” The IRGC linked the US actions to an earlier IRGC Navy operation to intercept two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, alleging the ships had been “switching off their tracking systems, travelling illegally and endangering navigation.”
Phase Two: Bahrain Targeted
The statement said the second phase hit Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa Airbase, with Iran’s aerospace forces allegedly striking “helicopter maintenance facilities, a hangar housing a P-8 aircraft and a US military drone command-and-control centre.”
Phase Three: Kuwait Installations Struck
For the third phase, the IRGC claimed it had “completely destroyed” fuel tanks and Patriot air‑defence systems at Kuwait’s Ali Al‑Salem Airbase, and had struck a “strategic FPS radar system” at Ahmed Al‑Jaber Airbase.
The IRGC said its aerospace forces conducted the third‑phase strikes and that the operation was ongoing, warning against further US involvement in the Strait of Hormuz and saying Iran “would not allow continued foreign military interference” in the vital waterway. The IRGC added that results from the operations would be released in subsequent statements.
US Says It Struck Iran First
The claims came after US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it launched a major wave of precision strikes across several sites in Iran on Sunday, aiming to degrade Tehran’s capacity to disrupt international shipping. CENTCOM said its strikes targeted Iranian air‑defence systems, coastal radar, missile and drone launch sites, and small tactical vessels, and marked the first use in the campaign of both one‑way attack aerial drones and one‑way attack sea drones.
Protecting The Strait, Says CENTCOM
CENTCOM said the strikes were carried out to protect the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global maritime chokepoint, and added: “The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade. Iran does not control it.”
In a post on X, CENTCOM said the operations were ordered by the Commander in Chief to hold Iranian forces accountable, writing that at 5 p.m. ET they “began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
