War in the Middle East: American base targeted in retaliation for Washington’s strikes on southern Iran

Tensions still high in the Middle East. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced Thursday, May 28, that they had targeted an American base in retaliation for strikes carried out earlier by the United States. The American army announced on Wednesday that it had shot down four Iranian drones and carried out strikes on a ground base in the south of the country, which constitutes the second American operation of this type this week, despite the ceasefire in force.

Several American officials, cited by CNN and the New York Timesassure that the downed drones represented a threat and added that the ground strikes, near the town of Bandar Abbas, aimed to prevent the takeoff of a fifth drone. “These actions were measured, only defensive and carried out with the intention of maintaining the cease fire,” said a US official on condition of anonymity.

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz

Iran also announces having fired on four ships which were trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz. The ships, which were trying to enter the Persian Gulf according to Iranian state television, “were warned, but as they ignored this warning, warning shots were fired at them, forcing them to turn around.”

On Wednesday, the US Treasury also announced sanctions against Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, Tehran’s new agency tasked with collecting navigation fees in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. “The Iranian military’s latest attempt to extort global maritime trade proves that (Operation Economic Fury) has left the regime in desperate need of cash,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. reference to Operation ‘Epic Fury’ which marked the start of the war in the Middle East.

The repercussions of this escalation of tensions are already being felt in the rest of the Gulf: Kuwait declared Thursday that it was facing “attacks carried out by enemy missiles and drones”, reports the Iranian army.