Iran Strikes US Military Bases in Kuwait and Jordan
Iran launched coordinated missile and drone attacks against US military facilities in Kuwait and Jordan on Thursday, marking the 10th phase of its retaliatory “Operation Saeqeh” (Lightning) and a significant escalation in the five-month-old war between the two nations. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s regular Army struck the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and the Azraq airbase in Jordan, targeting radar systems, communication infrastructure, fuel depots, and troop concentrations, according to reports from Xinhua News.
Context: A War in Its Fifth Month
The attacks come against the backdrop of a conflict that began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes against Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several other senior officials. The strikes, codenamed Operation Epic Fury (US) and Operation Roaring Lion (Israel), were preceded by the largest US military buildup in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Iran responded by adopting a decentralized “mosaic defense” strategy, launching missile and drone attacks against Israel, US-aligned Arab countries, and American military bases across the region. In late March, Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of global oil shipments pass.
A ceasefire agreement signed on June 17 between President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian briefly raised hopes of ending the conflict. However, the truce collapsed on July 8 after renewed attacks by both sides. The current escalation follows a new wave of US strikes on July 15 that targeted Iranian territory, including Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Chabahar, Semnan, and Hamadan province, as Al Jazeera reported.
The July 16 Attacks: A Multi-Front Operation
Iran’s military operations on Thursday were carried out by both the IRGC and Iran’s regular Army, demonstrating continued operational capability despite months of sustained warfare.
Kuwait — Ali Al Salem Air Base: The Iranian Army’s Arash drones struck early warning radar systems, C-RAM radar, Patriot air defense batteries, satellite communications centers, fuel depots, and a US troop assembly point at the base. The IRGC later claimed its forces “targeted and destroyed the satellite communications centre and early warning radar of the US air base in Ali Al Salem and the US military pier in Ash-Shu’aybah with a combined drone and missile operation,” according to an IRGC statement carried by Al Jazeera. Kuwait’s military confirmed it engaged “hostile aerial targets” within its airspace.
Jordan — Azraq Air Base: The IRGC claimed missile attacks on the Azraq airbase using Khyber-Shakan ballistic missiles, targeting what it described as “the American fighter jet storage ramp and the new American command and control centre in West Asia.” The Jordanian military reported intercepting eight Iranian missiles, highlighting the risks to non-belligerent states caught in the crossfire.
Bahrain — Shaikh Isa Air Base: In additional attacks, Iranian drones targeted communication and radar systems at Shaikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain, including Super Hawk radars and Patriot installations used by US forces. The IRGC later claimed a “devastating attack” on the same base, stating it had “completely destroyed the air reconnaissance and control radars” as well as “the fuel tank pumping station of the aggressor enemy’s fighter jets.”
Iran’s Justification and Strategic Messaging
Iran has consistently justified its retaliatory attacks by citing US strikes on civilian infrastructure. The IRGC specifically referenced US attacks that forced the evacuation of 121 children with cancer from a hospital in Ahvaz, as well as US strikes in March that killed 168 children at a school in Minab, as Press TV reported.
An IRGC spokesperson stated that “the current operations focus on destroying America’s offensive infrastructure in the region,” signaling a potentially limited scope, while warning that “the next phase of operations will follow.” This creates strategic ambiguity designed to deter further US escalation while maintaining room for de-escalation.
In a more ominous warning, Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, threatened that if President Trump follows through on threats against Iranian infrastructure, “all the infrastructure in the region will be crushed under the steel blows of the powerful armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, so that no trace of them will remain, as if they had never existed in the first place.”
The Strait of Hormuz: The Central Flashpoint
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz remains the central driver of the conflict. Iran claims sovereignty over the waterway, through which approximately 20% of global oil shipments pass. Former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati told state TV that “no power in the world can take the Strait of Hormuz from Iran’s ownership,” as reported by Al Jazeera.
President Trump has declared the US the “Guardian of the Strait” and announced a 20% tariff on all cargo shipped through it. In a Fox News interview on July 13, Trump stated: “We’re going to keep the strait, and we’ll probably run it. We’ll become the guardian of the strait. And we should be reimbursed for that.” The IRGC responded by stating that “the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is conditional on the end of America’s evils in the region.”
Regional and Global Implications
The attacks place Kuwait and Jordan — both US allies — directly in the crossfire of a conflict neither initiated. The IRGC’s direct appeals to the Kuwaiti and Jordanian peoples to expel US forces signals an attempt to pressure host governments and potentially destabilize US alliances in the region.
The ongoing conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruption continue to impact global oil markets, with Brent crude prices rising significantly. The US blockade and 20% tariff proposal represent an unprecedented assertion of control over international waterways, with potential ripple effects for global trade and energy security.
As the BBC noted, the escalation has cast doubt over the preliminary agreement that the US and Iran signed in June to end their four-month conflict and reopen the strait. The humanitarian toll continues to mount, with independent monitors estimating over 3,600 killed on all sides, including more than 1,700 civilians, and the economic cost to the US alone estimated at $113.3 billion as of June 2026.
What to Watch For
The key question in the coming days is whether the US will respond with further strikes on Iranian territory, potentially triggering another cycle of escalation that could draw in more regional actors. The collapse of the June ceasefire has left no diplomatic framework for de-escalation, and both sides have adopted increasingly maximalist positions on the Strait of Hormuz. With Iran warning of “further phases” of retaliation and the US maintaining its blockade, the prospects for a return to negotiations appear dim, raising the risk of a prolonged and increasingly destructive conflict.