The Iranian Army says it has carried out drone strikes against US military assembly points at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, widening the Islamic Republic’s military response to American airstrikes on Iranian territory.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Public Relations Office of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran said the operation was launched in response to “hostile US attacks” on military and civilian areas in southern Iran and the violation of the 14-point ceasefire agreement.
“Following the hostile aggression of the American enemy against military and civilian areas in the south of the country and the violation of the 14-clause memorandum of understanding, the attack drones of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, from early this morning (Wednesday), targeted the assembly points of American hostile forces at ‘Sheikh Isa Base’ in Bahrain,” the statement read.
The Army warned that further violations would be met with expanded strikes, stating that “the consequences of the blatant and repeated violation and breaking of the ceasefire by criminal America” would be borne by US forces, and that “all American bases in the region will be legitimate targets for the army’s drones.”
The announcement came hours after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said it had struck 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait and shot down an American MQ-9 drone over Bushehr province.
Those strikes were described by the IRGC as an “initial response” to US aerial aggression against coastal bases and civilian stations in Hormozgan province and Mahshahr.
Early Wednesday, Iranian media outlets reported several explosions near Sirik County and Qeshm Island in the southern Iranian Hormozgan Province.
An IRGC member was martyred while confronting aggressive US drones in the southern port city of Mahshahr, the IRGC’s Third Naval Region announced.
The force identified him as Mohammad Reza Khozini and said in a statement that he was martyred “due to shrapnel from a projectile” during an engagement with enemy drones.
A correspondent for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) also said that enemy projectiles had “injured several people” in Sirik’s fishing and commercial port.
This is not the first time that the United States has targeted Iranian soil since the reaching of an MoU between Tehran and Washington in June.
Iran’s Armed Forces have responded to each instance with decisive retaliatory strikes against strategic and sensitive American targets across the region.
This comes at a time when neighboring Iraq hosts extensive funeral processions for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.
