WANA (Jul 09) – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched missile and drone strikes against key infrastructure and facilities at U.S. military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to U.S. attacks on Iranian territory.

 

In a statement, the IRGC praised the Iranian and Iraqi people for their participation in the funeral procession for Iran’s slain leader, saying it demonstrated the bond between the people and the Islamic leadership.

 

It added that the participants’ slogans conveyed that “the cost of violating the religious authority and the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist would be very high.”

 

The statement said the funeral procession, particularly the 23-hour procession held under intense heat in Iraq, alarmed the United States and prompted it to launch new attacks.

 

According to the IRGC, U.S. forces struck multiple locations in Iran’s southern coastal provinces and targeted two bridges in eastern provinces leading to the holy city of Mashhad in an attempt to divert global attention from the funeral.

 

The IRGC said the attacks would instead strengthen international resolve to oppose the United States.

 

The IRGC said Iran would not leave the U.S. attacks unanswered.

 

It said that, in the first phase of its retaliatory operation, IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force units carried out a joint missile and drone strike shortly after the U.S. attacks, targeting key infrastructure and facilities at the U.S. military bases of Camp Arifjan and Ali Al Salem in Kuwait, and Juffair and Sheikh Isa in Bahrain.

 

The IRGC warned that any further U.S. attacks would be met with strikes on additional American military bases across the region.