The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday that Iran launched drones and ballistic missiles at US facilities in Kuwait and Bahrain but that all were intercepted, with no US casualties.
According to a statement from CENTCOM, Iran launched four suicide attack drones toward the Strait of Hormuz, all of which were shot down. Hours later, Iran fired an additional seven ballistic missiles targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. Six were intercepted in the air, and the remaining one failed to reach its target. CENTCOM also dismissed as false Iran's claim that the US Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain had been damaged.
"No US casualties have been reported to date," CENTCOM said, stressing that "US forces remain on alert and maintain a posture to respond to unprovoked Iranian attacks in the exercise of the legitimate right to self-defense."
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also said it had fired ballistic missiles at US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. According to the Guard's account carried by Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency, the strikes were a response to a US drone attack on an Iranian communications facility during the seizure of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. It claimed it had targeted the Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the US Navy's Fifth Fleet facility in Bahrain. The Guard said it could escalate the intensity of its retaliation if the US carried out further provocations, also raising the prospect of blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
