Tensions between the United States and Iran escalated sharply on Thursday as Iran struck American military assets in Bahrain for the second consecutive day and declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships, warning that any ship attempting passage would be fired upon.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had struck bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to the latest US strikes. "During two waves of operations, eighteen important targets belonging to the US Army in the bases of Ali and Ahmad Ahmad Air Force (were hit)," the Guards said in a statement carried by state-run IRNA, adding that they also "hit and destroyed Sheikh Isa air bases."
