Copy in clipboard...
IRGC batters US bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Syria
American aggression kills 38, injures 400 in southern Iran
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced in a statement on Friday a heavy retaliatory strike against the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, saying the attack destroyed strategic American military assets and inflicted significant damage on the facility.
The IRGC said that the latest operation was conducted as part of Iran's continuing retaliatory campaign against US military targets in the region.
According to the statement, the IRGC Aerospace Force launched the 15th wave of Operation Nasr-2, dedicating the operation to the victims of the recent US crimes against the Iranian people.
The IRGC said the attack completely destroyed a long-range radar system and several strategic US aerial refueling aircraft, while inflicting serious damage on several other aircraft stationed at the base.
The statement also warned that the US and the regional countries hosting American military bases would pay a "very heavy and devastating price" for crossing Iran's red lines by attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. It further warned that, should such attacks continue, Iran would launch even more crushing retaliatory operations that would become enduring milestones in the history of warfare.
The latest operation came as the IRGC continued expanding Operation Nasr-2, a series of retaliatory strikes launched in response to recent US attacks on Iran.
During the 11th wave, the IRGC Aerospace Force said it struck a US special operations command center in Syria's al-Tanf region, destroying a radar system and several special operations helicopters in retaliation for the killing of seven Iranian Army personnel in a US missile strike on the Bampur base in southeastern Iran.
The 12th wave targeted a US military base in Kuwait, where the IRGC said its forces struck missile-defense radar systems, ammunition depots, HIMARS launchers and stored missiles, saying the attack ignited a massive fire at the facility.
The campaign later expanded to Oman and Jordan. In the 13th wave, the IRGC Navy said it destroyed US maritime and air-control radars on Salamah rocks and in Oman’s Al-Ghanam area. During the 14th wave, the IRGC announced ballistic missile and drone strikes against US military facilities in Jordan, destroying several American fighter jets and aerial refueling aircraft while damaging others in response to attacks launched from US bases there against civilian targets in southern Iran.
‘Effective’ strikes continue until calm restored: IRGC cmdr.
Brigadier General Majid Mousavi, commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force, vowed that Iran's precision strikes against the enemy would continue until security is restored along the country’s southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.
“In our strategic calculus, territory is territory; from Tehran to the south, all of Iran is one integrated whole,” Mousavi said in a post on Friday.
“Our effective and precisely targeted strikes from across Iran against the enemy will continue until calm returns to the southern coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.”
Over the past few days, the terrorist US military has conducted waves of deadly strikes on Iran and reinstated a blockade of Iranian ports in flagrant violation of a war-termination deal.
In response, Iranian Armed Forces have launched heavy reprisal attacks against strategic American targets across the region, declaring the strategic waterway closed “until further notice” and at least until “the end of US interference in the region.”
Late Thursday and into Friday, the US hit Iranian infrastructure, including several bridges in southern Hormozgan Province.
The maritime control tower at Shahid Kalantari Port in Chabahar was struck for the third time by US warplanes on Friday morning and was completely destroyed
Iran's Health Ministry said earlier on Friday that US attacks had killed 38 people and injured more than 400 since the latest escalation began.
The ministry’s Public Relations said in a post on social media that among the casualties were 22 injured women, three martyred women, nine injured people under the age of 18, and one person under 18 who was martyred. He added that 47 injured people remain hospitalized and called on the public to pray for their recovery.
Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that a US strike hit the Allah Akbar Hill residential neighborhood in Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, killing a mother and critically injuring her one-year-old child who lost her hand.
The attack also wounded eight people, seven of whom suffered blast-related injuries, while another sustained a fracture.
In another report, Tasnim said a local fisherman was martyred in Thursday’s American strikes on the Pasabandar area of Chabahar.
The developments come amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over the Strait of Hormuz, after the United States resumed strikes against Iran despite a Pakistani-mediated memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the war.
US President Donald Trump has also threatened to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, including bridges and power plants.
China, Pakistan call for resumption of talks
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar in Shanghai on Friday, with both sides calling on the United States and Iran to cease fire and resume talks as soon as possible.
The two sides expressed deep concern over the deterioration of the situation in Iran, calling on the involved parties to “immediately” cease hostilities, surmount difficulties, remove disruptions, resume contacts and dialogue, and strive to reach a comprehensive peace agreement through negotiations.
The Chinese and Pakistani officials also urged the international community to continue lending support to such peace-making efforts.