CENTCOM says strikes further degrade Iran’s maritime attack capability
U.S. Central Command said in an update on X early Thursday that the strikes targeted maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites and air defense assets. “The strikes further degrade Iran’s ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial vessels,” CENTCOM said, adding that the latest attacks meant American forces had targeted dozens of land-based Iranian military sites in the past three weeks while enforcing a renewed blockade of Iranian ports.
CENTCOM said that during that time U.S. naval forces in the area had turned back nine commercial ships and fired on one, disabling it, to prevent them from departing or entering Iranian ports.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it attacked Camp Udairi in northwestern Kuwait, striking buildings housing U.S. military personnel, and claimed an unspecified number of service members were killed or injured. The IRGC also said it struck two helicopter hangars at the camp, damaging several helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. The group said it conducted strikes on Ali Al Salem Air Base, 30 miles west of Kuwait City, hitting a military equipment warehouse, a Patriot air defense battery and a hangar housing MQ-9 drones.
In Jordan, the IRGC said it attacked U.S. bases it did not identify and “destroyed a radar belonging to a THAAD missile defense system, a Patriot system and a C-RAM radar,” as well as setting ablaze fuel tanks, a helicopter equipment warehouse and a helicopter maintenance hangar.
Kuwait and Jordan reported being under attack but did not immediately comment further on the nature or extent of the Iranian claims. The Kuwait Army said in an online post just before 1 a.m. local time that its air defenses were “confronting attacks by hostile drones, following sinful Iranian aggression” and reassured residents that any explosions heard would be from its systems intercepting the attacks.
The Jordanian military said air defense systems downed three missiles on Thursday morning, with a fourth crashing into a remote, uninhabited area. It also said six drones were shot down by air defenses on Wednesday. The General Command of the Jordan Armed Forces Arab Army said there were no casualties or material damage.
Official U.S. casualty numbers remained unchanged as of Thursday morning at 18 killed, with another 447 injured, according to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, which is maintained by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. However, data from Operation Epic Fury, particularly with regard to injuries, has been delayed by days or weeks, with defense officials saying the time lag in updating the information was to protect service members.
The latest exchanges of fire came hours after President Trump attended the arrival back on U.S. soil of the latest batch of American service members killed in the conflict — two of them in an attack on a U.S. base in Jordan on Friday.