Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a coordinated series of ballistic missile and drone attacks against US military positions in Jordan, Kuwait, and Iraq early on Monday, triggering air defence responses in Bahrain and Kuwait and adding to a mounting American casualty count. The IRGC described the strikes as the 21st wave of “Operation Nasr 2” and claimed to have destroyed 20 shelters housing US forces at the al-Azraq air base in Jordan, struck large C-17 transport and P-8 command-and-control aircraft at Aqaba airport, and hit radar systems and drone hangars at Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem air base. A separate missile struck the headquarters of the Iranian Kurdish opposition group Komala in Erbil, in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Kuwaiti and Bahraini authorities confirmed activating air defence systems and warning sirens, while the US Central Command reported a ninth consecutive night of operations against Iranian targets.

According to statements broadcast by Iranian state media, the IRGC credited “honourable people and troops of Jordan” for providing intelligence that enabled the precise targeting of US assets, and framed the operations as a religious duty against “American terrorist forces” and the “child-killing Zionist regime.” The IRGC’s public relations department issued a religious ruling declaring US military personnel “mahdur al-dam” — liable to be killed — and called on all Muslims to act. The claim of local Jordanian cooperation, if verified, would mark a significant shift in the regional dynamics of the conflict. Viewed from Tehran, the strikes are presented as retaliation for US aerial assaults on Iran and the reimposition of a naval blockade, which Iranian officials describe as a violation of a war-termination agreement.

From the perspective of Gulf capitals, the attacks represent a dangerous spillover of hostilities. Kuwait’s armed forces general staff confirmed that air defence systems intercepted incoming drones and that explosions heard by residents were the result of those interceptions. The interior ministry in Bahrain activated air raid sirens and instructed citizens to proceed to shelters. Kuwait also accused Iran of targeting civilian infrastructure, including power plants, water desalination facilities, and oil refineries, in a separate wave of strikes the previous day. In Erbil, the Komala party — a leftist Kurdish opposition group founded in 1969 — stated that its facilities have now been hit more than 91 times since the war between the US and Israel against Iran began in February, and it held Tehran responsible for the latest attack.

The US has not independently confirmed the damage claims made by the IRGC, and Jordan has not publicly addressed the alleged intelligence cooperation. The US military death toll has risen to 17, with recent fatalities reported in Jordan and during explosive ordnance disposal operations in Iraq. The conflict, which erupted in February, had appeared to de-escalate after Iran and the US signed an electronic memorandum of understanding on 18 June to halt military hostilities. That agreement is now effectively void, and the resumption of large-scale strikes on both sides signals that the dossier remains open, with no diplomatic track currently active. The next factual step is likely to be a further US response, as Central Command continues its nightly operations against what it describes as Iranian targets.