IRGC strikes US targets in Kuwait a day after US hits Iran: Latest events

Published 31 July 2026 · india

Iran says it struck Kuwait in retaliation for US strikes on multiple locations in Iran, including Qeshm island. Iran announced on Friday that it had

Iran says it struck Kuwait in retaliation for US strikes on multiple locations in Iran, including Qeshm island. Iran announced on Friday that it had targeted United States military assets at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase, describing the attack as retaliation for US strikes a day earlier. Here is a recap of the latest developments in the US-Israeli war on Iran over the past 24 hours and a look at how the war could be expanding within the region. Where has Iran attacked? The Iranian army said on Friday that its forces had targeted strategic US military facilities at Kuwait’s Ahmad Al-Jaber airbase in a drone attack, describing the operation as retaliation for recent US strikes. In a statement reported by Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, the army said it had targeted hangars, satellite communication systems and equipment warehouses using drones. The strike, according to the statement, was carried out in response to a US attack on a residential home on Qeshm island, adding that the Kuwait facility serves as a vital hub for US aerial surveillance and operational support in the region. The US has not responded to Iran’s attack yet, and specific details about the damage and casualties are not known. Citing Iran’s recent claimed attack on a US military base in Jordan, Ali Akbar Dareini, a Tehran-based researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that Tehran believes Washington is amassing equipment there in preparation for a major attack. He said Iran is likely trying to preempt any future attacks by the US in its current targeting in the region. Iran does not want to “allow the US to decide when to start the war, when to pause temporarily and when to restart the war”, he added.

“Iran is now targeting the staging grounds of future operations.” Dareini explained that while Washington has been pursuing “vertical escalation” by ramping up military attacks against Iran, Tehran has sought “horizontal escalation” by expanding the conflict’s “geographical scope”. “Iran wants a complete, permanent end to war, or it’s going to be a wide-scale regional war,” he said. Where did the US attack Iran on Thursday? The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said that it struck dozens of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran overnight on Wednesday. Three people were killed on Qeshm island when a residential building was hit. Explosions were also heard in Fars province, Kish island, Bushehr province, Khuzestan province and Hormozgan province. The IRGC promised it would retaliate. The IRGC said that “with the help of God Almighty, the aggressor will be punished today,” according to Iran’s Fars news agency. Early on Thursday morning, the Jordanian Armed Forces said their air defence systems intercepted and shot down five missiles launched from Iran targeting the kingdom’s territory. Kuwait’s Defence Ministry announced on Thursday that one worker had been killed in an Iranian attack that targeted a building belonging to a Chinese company in the country’s north. On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had concluded the attack had not affected any Chinese citizens. She said China had asked Kuwait to take the necessary measures to protect Chinese nationals and institutions. Is the war expanding? Recent attacks in Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, as well as strikes on shipping in the Red Sea and the Caspian Sea, have sparked fears of the war expanding geographically – and may even have overlapped with the war in Ukraine.