IRGC Targets US Air Base in Kuwait; US Shoots Down Four Iranian Drones
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said today it targeted a US air base in Kuwait in retaliation for US strikes on a military site in the port city of Bandar Abbas. The US separately shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones. Kuwait’s army said its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats. The IRGC said any further US attacks would trigger “a more decisive response”. The exchange of fire marks the first kinetic Iranian retaliation since the April 7 ceasefire and signals the framework-deal track of the past week has materially broken down.
The US Treasury Department added the Persian Gulf Strait Authority — the body Iran set up to manage requests for passage through the Strait of Hormuz — to its Specially Designated Nationals sanctions list yesterday. CENTCOM had described Monday’s strikes as “self-defence” targeting IRGC mine-laying boats and a Bandar Abbas SAM site; today’s strikes targeted a separate Iranian drone operation. Iran’s foreign ministry said earlier this week that “the United States has violated the ceasefire” with the strikes in Hormozgan province. The Kuwait air-defence activity is the most operationally significant Gulf-state involvement since the war began. The deal architecture in play earlier this week — 60-day ceasefire extension, 30-day Hormuz reopening window, 60-day nuclear talks — is now effectively suspended pending a US-Iran de-escalation step.