US and Iranian forces have engaged heavy missiles and drone assaults on weekend with Iran targeting several US bases in Gulf countries and saying that it had again closed the vital Strait of Hormuz. The fresh wave of escalation between US and Iran has surged the oil prices.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, IRGC, on Monday said they targeted US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait and destroyed the radar systems in Oman. It struck fuel tanks and ammunition depot at Prince Hassan Air Base in Jordan in the latest response to another wave of US strikes.
The strikes were the latest in the cycle of attacks and counterattacks as Iran seeks to assert its control over shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz. However, the barrage marked an escalation in pace and range. US claims to have struck several Iranian military defense sites, coastal radar sites, missiles and drone capabilities, IRGC’s small speedboats, using aircraft, naval vessels and drones during operations on Sunday.
The renewed escalation has further cast doubt on the future of the interim US-Iran peace agreement signed last month in Switzerland that aimed to reopen the Strait and end the war after 60 days. Last week in a post on social media, President Donald Trump has claimed that ceasefire was over and meanwhile US media claimed that Iran had hatched a plot to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Read more: US Media Claims Iran Plotted to Assassinate Trump as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Escalate
On Saturday, U.S. Central Command claimed that U.S. forces had hit 140 Iranian military targets and that more than 300 had been struck over three nights this week. The strikes are meant to degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels wanting to freely transit this route. IRGC said that they had destroyed a command-and-control center and drone hangars in the U.S. bases in Jordan, targeted a U.S. radar site and later rocket launcher systems in Kuwait. It also attacked U.S. aircraft carrier support and refueling platforms in Oman and destroyed a jet maintenance center and command facility in Qatar.
