Manama: The Iranian army announced on Wednesday that it had executed a drone attack targeting “US forces stationed at Sheikh Isa Air Base in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” as a response to a US attack that allegedly targeted both military and civilian sites in southern Iran. The Iranian military declared that “the United States bears full responsibility for the consequences of its repeated and blatant violation of the ceasefire.”

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the Iranian army emphasized that “all US bases in the region are legitimate targets for Iranian army drones.” This statement follows the US Central Command’s (CENTCOM) report earlier on Wednesday, which stated that its forces commenced a series of robust strikes against Iran. The US action was declared as a countermeasure to Iran’s alleged targeting of commercial vessels navigating through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a related development, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that Tehran had “attacked US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the US strikes targeting Iran.” The Fars News Agency conveyed that “the naval and air forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in a joint operation, attacked 85 significant American military installations at the Salman Port of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, utilizing drones and missiles.”

The agency further reported, quoting the IRGC, that “an enemy MQ-9 drone was shot down in retaliation for the aggression.”

In mid-June, Iran and the United States had announced a memorandum of understanding, brokered by Pakistan, which laid out plans to terminate the conflict initiated by the US and Israel against Iran on February 28th. This agreement established a framework for 60 days of negotiations aimed at reaching a more comprehensive agreement addressing the Iranian nuclear program, the lifting of sanctions, and other contentious issues.