Iran targeted a U.S. air base on Thursday after the United States struck what Washington described as an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks, while limited, highlighted the fragility of negotiations aimed at turning the tenuous ceasefire that took effect in early April into an agreement to end the three-month-old war and reopen the vital shipping route. CENTCOM announced that the military shot down five Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a sixth drone.
“These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” said the official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said later that it had targeted the U.S. base responsible for an early morning attack near Bandar Abbas airport, Tasnim news agency reported. The IRGC, which did not name the base, said any repeat of what it called aggression would lead to a “more decisive” response. Kuwait – which hosts a large U.S. base – said it was responding to missile and drone attacks without saying where the attacks were coming from.
