Wider war threatens as Iran says it struck U.S. bases
by Darryl Coote · UPIJuly 9 (UPI) -- Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said early Thursday that it has launched attacks targeting U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, hours after U.S. Central Command announced the completion of its attacks against Iran.
The tit-for-tat strikes follow President Donald Trump a day prior saying the cease-fire agreement between Washington and Tehran was all but over, and threatened the return to all-out war in the Middle East.
Fighting had simmered between the two sides following last month's agreement to conditions that could lead to an end of the war, but the Strait of Hormuz has proved a sticking point. The Trump administration is demanding a return to freedom of navigation through the chokepoint; Iran is seeking to maintain control over the vita energy transit route.
As negotiations were stalling, three commercial vessels were struck while transiting the strait, resulting in the United States attacking Iran early Wednesday, kicking off the continuing retaliatory strikes as Iran appears unrelenting in its oversight of the Strait of Hormuz.
"America still hasn't learned that bullying and breaking promises are no longer cost-free. Let me put it plainly: if you strike, you'll get hit," Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a social media statement early Thursday.
"Don't flail around pointlessly, or you'll sink ever deeper: the Strait of Hormuz will only open with 'Iranian arrangements,' not American threats."
The IRGC said it had not only attacked but "smashed important infrastructure and facilities" at Arifjan and Ali Al Salem bases in Kuwait and Juffair and Sheikh Isa bases in Bahrain.
State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting reported that Iran early Tuesday was attacking U.S. bases from Bushehr city, stating the United States had targeted those assets hours earlier.
The state broadcaster also claimed the U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain was also hit.
The extent of potential damage was not immediately clear, but both Kuwait and Bahrain confirmed incoming attacks.
The elite military unit in charge of protecting the Islamic regime warned that the United States that "should it repeat its aggression, our crushing responses will expand to other American bases in the region," it said.
The attack came as the U.S. Central Command announced that it had completed strikes against Iran late Wednesday.
CENTCOM said late Wednesday that it had completed strikes against about 90 Iranian military targets, including air defense systems and coastal surveillance assets, were hit. The announced follower an earlier round of U.S. attacks overnight Tuesday that struck about 80 targets in Iran.