Iran claims it struck US bases in Bahrain, UAE, and Kuwait

ANKARA

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on Monday claimed that it had struck the US naval fleet in Bahrain, the US' Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, and a US base in Kuwait.

In a statement, the corps said 26 UAVs and five ballistic missiles were launched at both fixed and mobile US military targets in Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain, and the Strait of Hormuz.

As part of the attacks, Kuwait’s Arifjan US Base was hit with a dozen UAVs, it said.

In the UAE, the US military command and control center at Al-Minhad Air Base was targeted with six UAVs and five ballistic missiles, while previously untouched US Navy facilities in Bahrain were destroyed by six UAVs, the statement added.

Separately, satellite images obtained by Planet Labs and analyzed by The New York Times showed that many buildings at the US Navy’s largest regional base – the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain – were completely destroyed in Iran’s strikes.

The Middle East is currently engulfed in a major military confrontation amid coordinated US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which killed several top leaders including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran has retaliated with missile and drone attacks across the region, striking US military assets and energy facilities in at least eight countries, including the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar.

* Writing by Seda Sevencan