The Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) said on Monday that its air defenses “successfully intercepted and destroyed several treacherous Iranian aerial attacks.”
Contrary to Tehran’s claims that its attacks are limited to American military bases, the BDF said Iran is launching “unlawful missile and drone attacks targeting civilians.”
The BDF denounced Iran’s attacks as “treacherous” and stressed that “deliberate use of missiles and drones to target civilians and private property constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.”
Iran launched missiles and drones at Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman over the weekend as the United States continued to hammer air defenses, radar sites, missile depots, and attack boats controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization.
Iran listed Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan, and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait among its targets, and claimed that it destroyed stores of fuel and munitions at the bases, along with America’s Patriot air defense missiles. The respective defense ministries of the four Gulf Arab countries said they intercepted all of Iran’s weapons without any major damage to the bases used by American forces.
Kuwait said on Sunday that an Iranian drone struck one of its offshore oil platforms, injuring one worker, and three Kuwaiti sites near the Iraqi border were damaged. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also reported intercepting Iranian drones and missiles.
The IRGC released a statement on Monday that described its attacks on neighboring countries as “retaliatory missile and drone strikes” against the United States.
For one of the first times, the IRGC publicly admitted that it has attacked civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz – which triggered the massive U.S. campaign of airstrikes – but insisted it was somehow justified in its piracy.
The IRGC claimed it “stopped two ships because they had switched off their tracking systems and taken an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, endangering traffic in the strategic waterway.”
In reality, Iran has done much more than “stop two ships,” and one of its illegal attacks left a Qatar liquid natural gas (LNG) tanker crippled off the coast of Oman with an engine room fire.
“In the first phase of their response to the aggression, the valiant fighters of Islam set ablaze several large missile depots and fuel storage facilities at Jordan’s Prince Hassan Air Base in a missile and drone strike,” the IRGC statement said.
“In the second phase of their retaliatory operation, the IRGC Aerospace Force struck key helicopter maintenance and repair facilities, a hangar housing a P-8 electronic warfare aircraft, and the command-and-control center for the US military’s drone operations at the US base in Sheikh Isa, Bahrain,” the statement continued.
The “third and fourth phases” were Iran’s attacks on Kuwait. The IRGC claimed it “completely destroyed fuel storage tanks and a Patriot air defense system” at the Ali Al Salem airbase, an “FPS strategic radar system” at the Ahmad Al Jaber airbase, and two HIMARS missile launchers plus “ammunition depots stocked with missiles” in an alleged ground forces attack.
“We will not allow a rogue, child-killing army from the other side of the world to continue its illegal interference there,” the IRGC declared.
The Iranian regime and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued conflicting statements on Sunday about whether the Strait of Hormuz is “closed.”
“The Strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway,” CENTCOM said.
“U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations,” the statement continued.
“Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing,” CENTCOM concluded.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), a new entity ostensibly created in May to “manage” traffic through the vital waterway, responded by insisting that passage through the strait is “currently not possible.”
“As soon as stability and calm are restored, all requests will be reviewed based on the schedule, and the necessary permits will be issued,” the statement said.
CENTCOM said on Sunday that the latest round of strikes to “degrade Iran’s ability to continue attacking international shipping flowing through the Strait of Hormuz” had been concluded successfully.
The statement said U.S. forces struck “Iranian military air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats using U.S. fighter aircraft, naval vessels, one-way attack aerial drones, and one-way attack sea drones for the first time.”
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