Iran attacks American targets in Kuwait, Bahrain as IRGC vows 'crushing response' to US strikes

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed on late Saturday that it had targeted US forces in Bahrain and Kuwait amid escalating tensions in West Asia. In a statement released on Saturday, the IRGC said its Navy and Air Force launched ballistic missiles and drones at the US Army at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the US Fifth Naval Fleet at Port Salman in the Bahraini capital, Manama.

According to Al Jazeera, the statement also maintained that the recent attacks on Gulf nations were a retaliation for the US bombing of five coastal locations in Iran. The confirmation of the attack also came shortly after Kuwait and Bahrain reported "hostile military and drone threats" within the respective nations.

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The Kuwaiti military said that the country's air defences are responding to “hostile missile and drone threats”. The military urged people to adhere to safety instructions. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior also urged people to “remain calm and head to the nearest safe place” as “the siren has been sounded”.

IRGC vows 'crushing response'

Apart from the confirmation, the IRGC also released a statement calling the attacks a tit-for-tat endeavour with the US. The IRGC went ahead to elaborate that, under the US-Iran interim deal, “the arrangements for controlling traffic in the Strait of Hormuz” are with Tehran.

“And from now on, violating ships will be dealt with more forcefully than in the past,” it said. The Iranian group also warned that “any possible enemy aggression, under any pretext” – such as the US attacks carried out over the past days – will be met with “a crushing response”.

Violating the ceasefire contravenes the MoU “and will result in a complete halt to the processes”, the statement furthered. All these incidents took place after the US conducted a new set of strikes against Iran, following a drone attack on a Panama-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.

US Central Command (Centcom) said it hit multiple targets across Iran in direct response to "continued aggression" against commercial shipping, including military equipment, communication systems, air defence sites and drone storage facilities.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump also reacted to the latest strikes and said the strikes were in response to Iran repeatedly violating the ceasefire deal, suggesting on Truth Social that "there may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable". Overall, these incidents have severely undermined the ceasefire agreement the two nations signed earlier this month.