IRGC Launches Ballistic Missiles at US Air Bases in Kuwait and Bahrain Following American Drone Strikes on Iranian Territory

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) declared on Saturday that it had carried out ballistic missile strikes against two US air bases in Kuwait and key facilities of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, describing the action as a direct response to American drone attacks on Iranian soil earlier the same night.

According to an IRGC statement issued Saturday morning, the sequence of events began at 1:30 am when four oil tankers — which the IRGC alleged were operating under the direction of US forces — attempted to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without coordination and in defiance of repeated warnings from the IRGC Navy. One tanker was intercepted and halted; the remaining vessels turned back.

At 2:30 am, the IRGC said, US drones struck a telecommunications mast on Qeshm Island and a second mast in Sirik using two projectiles. The IRGC’s Aerospace Force responded by launching ballistic missiles at two US air bases in Kuwait — one identified as Ali Al Salem Air Base — as well as at remaining US Fifth Fleet installations in Bahrain.

The IRGC issued a stark warning in its statement, saying:

The US military offered a different account of the overnight events. US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated on X that its forces had intercepted four Iranian one-way attack drones heading toward the Strait of Hormuz, describing them as an immediate threat to maritime traffic in the region. CENTCOM said its forces subsequently struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, framing the action as defensive. It added that American forces remain prepared to respond to what it described as “unjustified Iranian aggression in self-defense.”

Ground-level reports corroborated some of the overnight activity: an IRIB correspondent in Sirik confirmed that multiple explosions were heard in the city at around 2:30 am Saturday.

The latest exchange marks a fresh escalation in an ongoing conflict that began on February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched strikes against Iran. Tehran responded with an extensive campaign of missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli-held territories and US military installations across the region. A Pakistan-brokered temporary ceasefire came into effect on April 8 — forty days into the hostilities — though Saturday’s events suggest that ceasefire has broken down.

The IRGC Navy also reiterated that it maintains full operational control over the Strait of Hormuz and that any intervention by foreign military forces in the waterway will be met with an immediate armed response — a warning that carries significant implications for global energy markets, given that a substantial portion of the world’s oil and gas transits the strait daily.