The US and Iran have again traded as the region remains on the brink of full-scale war despite the nominal ceasefire between the two sides.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Sunday that it shot down a US MQ-1 Predator drone that it said “entered Iranian airspace over territorial waters with the aim of carrying out a hostile operation.”
US Central Command confirmed that it lost a drone in a statement announcing another round of US airstrikes against targets in Iran. “The measured and deliberate strikes occurred on Saturday and Sunday in response to aggressive Iranian actions that included the shootdown of a US MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters,” CENTCOM said.
“US fighter aircraft swiftly responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones that posed clear threats to ships transiting regional waters,” the command added.
Iran said that a telecommunications tower in southern Iran was bombed by the US and said that it fired at the US air base “from which the attack originated.” The IRGC claimed that the attack “destroyed targets,” while CENTCOM claimed that it intercepted Iranian missiles.
“Last night at 11 pm ET, US forces successfully intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles targeting American forces based in Kuwait. These missiles were immediately defeated, and no American personnel were harmed,” CENTCOM said in a statement on Monday. Last week, Iran also targeted a US air base in Kuwait in response to US airstrikes, and at least five US troops and contractors suffered minor injuries, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The US has also continued to enforce the blockade of Iranian ports, which involved a US aircraft firing a Hellfire missile at a civilian ship on Friday. A return to full-scale war appeared more likely on Monday as Iranian media reported Iran cut off negotiations with the US in response to Israel’s continued war and escalations in Lebanon, which are a violation of the initial ceasefire announced by Pakistan.
