Iran’s IRGC Says It Struck U.S. Positions in Kuwait and Bahrain After U.S. Strikes Near Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it launched missiles and drones at U.S. military positions in Kuwait and Bahrain early Sunday after U.S. strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz, marking a sharp tit-for-tat escalation around the Gulf’s most sensitive waterway. Kuwait said its air defenses were responding to incoming threats, and Bahrain reported air-raid sirens and emergency alerts in Manama, but there was no independent confirmation at the time of writing of damage at the U.S. sites Iran named.

The U.S. military said its own strikes came first. U.S. Central Command said that on June 27-28, U.S. forces attacked Iranian targets after what it described as continued attacks on commercial shipping. “CENTCOM forces launched strikes today in direct response to continued Iranian aggression against commercial shipping,” the command said. It added that U.S. aircraft “conducted strikes … on 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations in and near the Strait of Hormuz.” CENTCOM said the operation followed a reported Iranian one-way attack drone strike on the Panama-flagged oil tanker M/T KIKU on the morning of June 28 and was also tied to an earlier reported attack on the M/V Ever Lovely on June 25.

In statements carried by Iranian state media and outlets linked to the IRGC, the guard said it had attacked two U.S. military positions in the Gulf: Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait and facilities associated with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. The IRGC-linked reports said ballistic missiles and drones were used and described the operation as a response to the U.S. strikes on Iranian coastal positions. Those claims, including any assertion of successful hits, had not been independently confirmed by U.S. authorities or the host governments.

Kuwait’s military publicly acknowledged defensive action during the exchange. “Kuwaiti air defenses are currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks. … If explosion sounds are heard they are the result of air-defense systems intercepting hostile attacks. Please follow security/safety instructions,” the Kuwait Army’s General Staff said in a statement carried by regional media. Regional live coverage also reported that Bahrain sounded air-raid sirens and issued emergency alerts in the capital, Manama.

The sites named by Iran are among the most important U.S. military positions in the Gulf. The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is a major American naval command for the region, while Ali Al Salem in Kuwait is a key air base used by U.S. forces. Both sit close to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage at the center of the latest exchange and of recent reported attacks on commercial vessels. At the time of writing, there was still no independently verified public account of damage or casualties at Ali Al Salem or at Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain.