Iran strikes Bahrain and Jordan in retaliation for US attacks in Hormuz

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed attacks on United States military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian ports and islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement carried by state media on Wednesday, the IRGC said it launched drone attack on the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait, as well as a long-range missile strike on an air base in Azraq, Jordan.

It said it attacked 21 US targets and destroyed four of them, including an F-35 fighter jet hangar at the base in Jordan. It also said it shot down a US MQ-9 drone in the skies over the Iranian city of Jam.

The latest flare-up comes after the US military attacked Qeshm Island and ports along the Iranian coast in the Strait of Hormuz after blaming Iran for the downing of a US Apache helicopter earlier on Tuesday.

The IRGC said the US’s attacks had caused damage to a telecommunications tower in the town of Sirik and destroyed to water tanks there.

It also warned that its forces remain fully prepared to deliver a “crushing and decisive” response to any US military actions, and said Washington would bear full responsibility for the consequences of further escalation.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in the US, said that Iran is trying to respond “proportionately, but very harshly and swiftly against any American attack”.

“Because otherwise, a new normal is established, one in which the United States can strike at Iran with more or less impunity,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.