The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that its naval forces conducted a large-scale combined missile-and-drone operation against pivotal American and Zionist targets.
The operation was carried out as part of the 97th wave of Operation True Promise 4 on Sunday afternoon, the IRGC stated.
Among the key targets was a hideout used by American commanders and officers at a location near the Mohammad al-Ahmad naval base in Kuwait.
The site was obliterated by precision strikes using multiple ballistic missiles and attack drones, the IRGC said.
Reports indicate that the heavy concentration of ambulances in the area points to substantial casualties among enemy forces.
The attack, which follows Saturday’s strike on a US command centre and training facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has so far killed or injured 25.
Meanwhile, a zionist commercial vessel was struck by a naval Qadir cruise missile in the channel of Jebel Ali Port in the UAE. “The ship is currently on fire,” the IRGC said.
The IRGC further stated that its naval forces have been preventing the transit of several vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since Saturday.
The vessels, it said, did not possess transit authorization and were therefore directed to the western and eastern anchorages of the waterway.
To transit the Strait, the IRGC Navy said oil tankers and commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman must contact one of the IRGC Navy stations via international Channel 16 on marine radio.
It also warned vessel crews not to endanger their safety by paying attention to “false news.”
Iran imposed restrictions on the passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz days after the US and zionist regime launched an unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic late in February.
As part of the operation, the IRGC Aerospace Force also targeted an industrial zone affiliated with the Israeli military in Beersheba. The attack came in response to “the atrocities of the brutal Zionist regime” against the Iranian nation, the statement added.
On Sunday morning, the IRGC Navy and Aerospace Force set fire to enemy targets in the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait in response to US-zionist airstrikes against Iran’s civilian facilities.
However, the IRGC emphasized that what has occurred so far represents only a portion of its response, warning that if attacks on civilian facilities are repeated, the next phase of the operation will be more intense and broader in scope.
Iranian armed forces and resistance groups across the region continue to carry out retaliatory military operations against the United States and the Israeli regime.
So far, 97 waves of missile and drone strikes have been carried out with advanced weaponry targeting zionist military facilities in the occupied territories, as well as US occupation bases and assets scattered across the West Asia region.
Iran’s downing of two American warplanes marks one of the rarest direct attacks on US forces in more than 20 years, a report said.
The last time a US warplane was shot down by enemy fire in combat was an A-10 Thunderbolt II during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, according to retired US Air Force general and former F-16 fighter pilot, Houston Cantwell, the Associated Press reported.
He said the US has been “flying combat missions” in Iran over the past five weeks, and US invading jets and drones “are being shot at every day.”
On Friday, Iran shot down a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet in an attack that left the two pilots missing.
According to Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, it is possible that Iran fired at the F-15 with a surface-to-air missile.
Taleblu said it is also more likely that a portable, shoulder-fired missile was used in downing the warplane.
A US A-10 attack aircraft also crashed after being hit by Iranian Armed Forces. The Iranian Army also managed to shoot down two Black Hawk helicopters and a C-130 transport plane early Sunday morning.
According to the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the enemy flying objects came under fire during a desperate mission to retrieve the pilot of the F-15 jet.
In a separate statement, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also confirmed that its forces have destroyed several US warplanes that were conducting a desperate mission to rescue the pilot.
The US, the IRGC said, “once again suffered a humiliating defeat.”
US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that his country’s military “got” the pilot during an operation, one day after rescuing another pilot.
The two aircraft used by the US military during the so-called rescue mission, which were subsequently destroyed by the IRGC, cost more than $100 million each.
Iran’s Armed Forces have also shot down two invading drones, including an MQ-9 and a Hermes-900, over Isfahan Province on Sunday.