Iran, hit by large-scale U.S. airstrikes, moved to retaliate by striking neighboring countries that host U.S. military bases.
According to Reuters and others, on the 8th (local time) the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement released on state television that it struck U.S. military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait.
The IRGC said, "As an initial response to this aggression, the IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force carried out a joint operation using missiles and drones to strike 85 key U.S. military facilities in the two countries." It also claimed to have shot down one U.S. MQ-9 drone.
Reuters reported that there were no confirmed casualties or damage from Iran's attacks in Bahrain and Kuwait yet.
Bahrain and Kuwait, which came under attack, immediately activated their air defenses and began responding. The Kuwaiti military said on the social media platform X that "the air defense network is responding to hostile missile and drone attacks," adding, "the explosions being heard are occurring as the air defense system intercepts enemy attacks."
Bahrain's Interior Ministry also issued an air raid alert around the same time. Foreign media reported that multiple explosions were heard in various parts of Bahrain.
The attack was a counterstrike after U.S. forces, in response to Iran's attack on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, hit more than 80 military targets inside Iran. Iran had warned right after the U.S. airstrikes began that it would deliver a "deadly response."
Earlier, U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said it had conducted precision strikes on more than 80 targets inside Iran—including air defenses, command-and-control facilities, coastal radar bases, anti-ship missile assets, and small boats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—in response to Iran's attacks on three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz.