The Middle East has been plunged into a state of warfare after Iran retaliated, conducting a series of strikes on U.S forces in the region.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that Iran retaliated by launching a massive wave of ballistic missiles and drones targeting several neighboring countries that host U.S military installations.
The strikes, which Tehran has dubbed “Operation Truthful Promise 4,” come just hours after the United States and Israel initiated “Operation Epic Fury,” a large-scale aerial campaign aimed at dismantling Iran’s nuclear and missile infrastructure.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told the press that Iran has “every right” to defend itself against what he called “an act of aggression” by the United States. He said Iran had “learned lots of lessons” from its 12-day war with Israel last summer.
Araghchi said in an interview Saturday that Iranian forces “may have lost one or two commanders, but that is not a big problem.”
He criticized the U.S. for attacking while negotiations were underway, and said the Iranians had recently “had a very good meeting” in Geneva with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
“I don’t know why, while we were progressing in our talks and we had made good, you know, achievement and a deal was at our reach, why they decided to attack us?” Araghchi said.
According to regional security reports, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted high-profile facilities across the Gulf.
Bahrain is one of the countries that has been attacked for hosting U.S forces in the Middle East.
Bahrain is a tiny Gulf kingdom that is hosting an installation known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, where the U.S Navy’s Fifth Fleet and U.S Naval Forces Central Command headquarters are based.
Bahrain said that the 5th Fleet’s service center was targeted by an Iranian missile strike on Saturday.
The United States has troops in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State group, but their mission is due to end by September under a deal between Washington and Baghdad.
American forces have already completed their withdrawal from facilities in federal Iraq under the same agreement.
AFP journalists reported explosions near the U.S consulate in Arbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday, while Iraq’s powerful pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah group threatened attacks on American bases.
Kurdish security forces later said the US-led coalition had intercepted multiple drones and missiles over Arbil.
Kuwait International Airport was targeted by a drone, resulting in minor injuries to “a number of employees,” according to Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
The attack also caused some damage to the airport’s Terminal 1, according to the department.
“The authority confirmed that the situation is under complete control by the relevant authorities in the country, and that the safety of travelers and workers is a top priority,” the department said in a statement.
The United States reportedly deployed dozens of military aircraft to Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in the run-up to the strikes on Iran.
A Jordanian military official said the kingdom’s forces shot down two ballistic missiles targeting its territory on Saturday, without saying who launched them.
The Jordanian Public Security Directorate later said there were “no casualties but only material damage.”
Also, U.S forces are currently in the process of withdrawing from Syria, and three sources told AFP earlier this week that the American exit would be completed within a month.
Syrian state media said four people were killed by an Iranian missile that hit the country’s south on Saturday.
