Tehran: Tensions in West Asia escalated sharply on Sunday after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed it had launched ballistic missiles and drones at US military facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation for recent American strikes on Iranian territory. The IRGC also warned that any further US military action would invite a "crushing response."
In a statement, the IRGC said its Navy and Aerospace Force carried out coordinated strikes between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. local time, targeting eight US military installations, including the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the US Fifth Fleet headquarters at Port Salman in Bahrain.
The IRGC claimed it had "destroyed eight important US military facilities at the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait and at the Fifth Fleet naval base in Port Salman in Bahrain," adding, "Any enemy aggression, whatever the pretext, even against insignificant targets… will have a crushing response."
The IRGC accused Washington of violating the ceasefire by launching strikes on five Iranian coastal positions under the pretext of responding to Iran's action against a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
"The aggressor enemy, for whom violating commitments and breaking agreements are inherent traits, attacked five coastal posts of the Islamic Republic in the early hours of today under the pretext of the IRGC Navy's action against a violating vessel," the statement said.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday strongly condemned the US airstrikes carried out the previous night on multiple targets along Iran's southern coast.
The ministry described the "brutal" US strikes targeting Iran's coastal surveillance facilities as a "flagrant violation" of the United Nations Charter and the recently signed peace Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries.
It also alleged that Israel launched coordinated strikes on Lebanon alongside the United States, violating the same MoU, and said Iran's armed forces had carried out retaliatory strikes against targets affiliated with US forces.
Later in the day, the IRGC said its naval forces had struck US military positions in the region in retaliation for the American airstrikes on southern Iran.
The developments came after Iran and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding on June 18 aimed at ending the conflict across the region, including in Lebanon. The two sides are currently engaged in negotiations to reach a final agreement.
(With inputs from AP and Reuters)
