Iran has expanded its military campaign across the Gulf region, striking at US forces and infrastructure in multiple countries as tensions with Washington escalate sharply.
Iran’s army said it targeted US helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft at the Sakhir airbase in Bahrain, according to a report carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Bahrain’s armed forces confirmed that their air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed a number of the attacks, describing Iran’s actions as a continuation of “cowardly attacks targeting civilians.” Qatar’s Interior Ministry separately reported that a child was injured by falling shrapnel as Qatari forces intercepted several aerial attacks originating from Iran.
In Kuwait, Iran’s army said it struck US military deployment sites and logistical support centers using drones. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) added that it had also hit a US missile defense radar, several weapons depots, and two HIMARS missile launchers stationed in the country. In Syria, the IRGC said it struck a US special operations command center at the al-Tanf base. It further claimed to have destroyed a US air control radar in Oman’s Ghanim region and a maritime radar positioned on rocks in the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation is being felt on shipping lanes as well. Only three commodity vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the lowest daily transit count since May, as most vessels rerouted or reversed course following Iranian attacks on shipping and the reimposition of a US blockade tied to Iran.
Attention is also turning to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, where Iran’s allies, the Houthis, are reported to hold ultimate decision-making power over any closure. Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar Atas, reporting from Tehran, noted that Iranian officials have signaled they would respond in kind if their civilian and energy infrastructure came under attack and that a closure of Bab al-Mandeb alongside the already shut Strait of Hormuz could deal a severe blow to the global economy.
In Lebanon, senior Hezbollah MP Ali Fayyad criticized his country’s negotiating delegation for continuing talks with Israel “as if nothing has happened,” accusing the Lebanese authorities of abandoning their people and risking both territorial loss and internal unity amid Israel’s continued presence in the south.
