KUWAIT CITY / TEHRAN — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has carried out a missile strike targeting a US military airbase in Kuwait, wounding seven people, including four American service members and three civilian contractors. The strike marks a dangerous escalation in the Gulf region, breaking a fragile, Pakistan-mediated truce established in early April.
According to IRGC spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the retaliatory strike was launched at 4:50 AM local time from southern Iran. Tehran stated the operation was a direct response to a prior US airstrike near Iran’s Bandar Abbas airport. While the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the incident, it stated that Kuwaiti air defense systems successfully intercepted the Iranian projectile, mitigating further casualties.
The IRGC also claimed responsibility for a secondary strike on a US military facility, which they alleged was the staging ground for a recent US attack on a telecommunications tower on Iran’s Sirik Island, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported that the IRGC Aerospace Force executed the precision strike as a warning to Washington, with Tehran declaring that any future American aggression would face unprecedented retaliation.
The latest hostilities are rooted in a broader conflict that erupted on February 28 between Iran and a joint US-Israeli coalition, which previously led Tehran to temporarily block the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the ongoing military friction, US President Donald Trump expressed strong diplomatic optimism on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump claimed that Tehran is highly motivated to secure a long-term agreement with Washington, asserting that a final deal would benefit both the United States and its regional allies. Dismissing domestic critics and hardliners who favored a military response, the President urged patience, stating that indirect negotiations to transition the current ceasefire into a permanent political settlement are currently underway.
