The US has attacked Iran’s Revolutionary Guard after the US military attack in Jordan
The US military launched airstrikes on Sunday against Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for the killing of US soldiers in Jordan, further fueling tensions between the nations as they battle in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strikes are part of a week-long campaign that has seen Iran attack US allies in the Middle East after the collapse of an interim deal to end Iran’s war.
The US has targeted bridges, power plants and other targets in Iran, and Tehran has retaliated by hitting power plants and desalinizing Kuwait’s water, threatening daily life in the small, oil-rich desert nation. Iran has also increased its threats to further increase the number of strikes, issuing a warning overnight from the United Arab Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Kuwait reopened air defenses on Sunday morning as its military warned of incoming Iranian drones and missiles.
The U.S. military’s Central Command, in its statement, also said it raided “Iranian military coastal observation and air defense facilities, naval forces, and missile and drone storage facilities.” It also said for the first time that it was targeting the IRGC, a key power base in the democratic Iran that controls its ballistic missiles.
Images released by the US military appeared to show strikes by warplanes and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched into the sea. The target area seemed to be in a mountain valley. Rangers often have missile bases and other military equipment placed in the mountains.
Iran has not provided full information about its loss of assets in the American campaign, now in its eighth day as nations fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas exports pass during peacetime.
US strikes in retaliation
An Iranian attack on a base in Jordan killed two American service members, left one missing and four others hospitalized, the US military said.
The international airport and the port of Aqaba in southern Jordan have been evacuated due to a “direct and credible threat,” said the US Embassy in X, strongly advising Americans against visiting any areas.
However, according to the country’s news agency, the Jordanian authorities did not issue any decision on Sunday to leave the airport or the seaport, and did not receive any possible threats in the past hours.
Since the war began, 16 US service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded.
Iranian authorities said Saturday that at least 50 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the latest US strikes.
The United States Central Command announced Saturday that two service members were killed and one is missing following Iranian strikes on American bases in Jordan. The strikes follow a week of US attacks on Iranian infrastructure.
Almost all Gulf Arab states have been targeted by Iran with retaliatory strikes, with a missile warning sounded on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. However, the United Arab Emirates has not yet been identified.
Iran’s official Fars news agency, believed to be close to the militants, issued a threat on Saturday in the UAE. Citing an anonymous official, Fars said continued strikes on Iranian infrastructure would mean “the airports of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as the ports of Fujairah and Jebel Ali, must be evacuated immediately.”
The UAE enters
In an apparent response to the threat, the Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement calling for “extreme restraint to avoid dangerous consequences, and the region being dragged to new levels of violence and instability.”
“The UAE emphasized that the targeting of civilian infrastructure and public areas in the region … is a clear and serious violation of established principles and provisions of international law, and cannot, under any circumstances, be accepted or justified.”
During the Iran war, officials say, the UAE and Saudi Arabia carried out retaliatory strikes against Tehran targeting their nations.
The secretary-general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed al-Budaiwi, accused Iran of war crimes for the strikes on infrastructure and public areas.
Iran’s state media carried a message from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, promising to take revenge on US President Donald Trump after his father’s death.
Trump has threatened to target Iran’s power stations and bridges to try to force Tehran to loosen the Strait of Hormuz. The latest attacks suggest that the US military is carrying out that plan, starting with Iranian coastal areas along the way.
The United States last week reinstated a naval blockade of Iranian ports to halt crude oil shipments, and the military on Saturday said it had diverted five vessels and disabled one since then.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, in a statement on Saturday, warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the US continues to attack the Islamic Republic. Iran’s top negotiator said Tehran was suspending its commitments to an interim deal signed a month ago that aims to permanently end hostilities.
Iran’s joint military command said US “greed, tyranny, tyranny or brutality” would be met with a “painful response.”
