Iran’s military said on Friday it launched strikes on US military bases and strategic assets in Kuwait and Bahrain, the latest escalation in a five-month conflict between Washington and Tehran that is drawing more Gulf states into the fight.
In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted US facilities at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem Air Base, claiming drone hangars and a fuel depot were destroyed. CNBC reported that Tehran said it struck aircraft shelters, satellite communication systems and equipment storage at Kuwait’s Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in a drone attack. Iran also said it attacked US facilities at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, targeting power generators, navigation systems and support buildings.
Kuwaiti authorities reported at least one death linked to the strikes, and some regional outlets said a worker employed by a Chinese firm was killed. The reports could not be independently verified.
The attacks came a day after US forces completed a “heavy wave” of strikes against Iran, hitting dozens of IRGC targets across the country, according to US Central Command. Thursday’s American strikes included one on Qeshm Island that Iranian officials said killed a married couple and their two-year-old child. The IRGC said its strikes on Kuwait were retaliation for those US attacks, Al Jazeera reported.
The escalation pushed oil prices higher on Friday morning. Brent crude futures with September delivery rose 0.6 percent to $89.53 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate climbed 0.5 percent to $84.04, according to CNBC. Iran’s Fars news agency, which is close to the IRGC, said the Guards had stopped two tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a report CNBC said it could not independently verify.
“The expanding geographical range of drone and missile attacks on shipping this year, which encompass the Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, amount to a new era of maritime risk,” Hamish Kinnear, Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, said in a research note quoted by CNBC.
The strikes raise the stakes for Gulf Arab states that host US forces. Kuwait is home to Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem Air Base, while Bahrain hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. By targeting bases in both countries, Tehran is signaling that it will hit American assets across the region rather than confine the fight to Iranian soil, analysts said.
The conflict, which began in late February over shipping clashes in the Strait of Hormuz, has already spread to Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Yemen, with drone and missile attacks on energy infrastructure and military sites becoming a near-daily occurrence across the Middle East.
Sources: Al Jazeera, CNBC
Author: Middle East Desk
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