IRGC strikes US targets in Kuwait a day after US hits Iran: Latest events
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x whatsapp-stroke copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info This handout photograph taken and released by the Damietta Port Authority in Egypt on July 30, 2026 shows ships docked on the wharf of the Mediterranean port of Damietta [AFP] By Sarah Shamim Published On 31 Jul 2026 31 Jul 2026 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
On July 20, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia and have since attacked shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis have accused Saudi leaders of imposing “an unjust and oppressive siege” on them in Yemen for nearly 12 years, “plundering our resources and imposing a comprehensive blockade on our ports and airports by land, sea and air”.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia revealed plans for a multinational maritime defence coalition to safeguard international shipping and energy supply routes in the Red Sea.
A Ukrainian drone strike on an Iranian commercial ship in the Caspian Sea prompted Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon Ukraine’s charge d’affaires in Tehran over what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack on Saturday, state news agency IRNA reported.
Ukraine said it was targeting a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.
Egypt has confirmed that a fire which damaged two ships at the Mediterranean port of Damietta on Wednesday was caused by a drone attack.
In a statement, the Egyptian Cabinet said initial investigations had determined the fire was caused by a drone, but that no party had claimed responsibility. It said authorities were investigating the circumstances of the strike to protect Egypt’s interests and national security.
Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, quoting people familiar with the incident, that the drone had hit the US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel.
Iran has denied involvement in the Egypt attack.
“Egypt…
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