Following heavy U.S. airstrikes and an expanded sanctions regime against Tehran, Iranian forces targeted U.S. military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday. Israeli defense officials warned that the surging economic pressure could drive the Iranian government into desperate, escalating measures.
The six-month-old conflict between the United States and Iran escalated sharply this week after American warplanes struck rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, claiming that Iran was planning to use them to shoot mines into the waterway. Despite repeated claims by the Trump administration to have opened the strait of Hormuz to oil traffic, traffic through the key maritime passageway remains far below prewar levels, with oil prices remaining stubbornly elevated ahead of US midterm elections. Oil prices jumped again on Thursday after the Iranian strikes.
Missile and Drone Strikes Hit Air Bases in Kuwait and the UAE
Iranian state media reported that military units launched coordinated missile and drone strikes against American installations across the Gulf. This morning, the army hit the satellite communication systems, equipment depots and fighter aircraft hangars of the terrorist US army at the Ahmad al-Jaber air base in Kuwait with missiles and drones, the Iranian military said on Thursday in a statement carried by state television. The location of forces and radar systems of the child-killing US army at the Al Minhad air base in the UAE were also attacked by missiles and drones of the army, it added.
In a post on X, Kuwait’s ministry of defence said its air defences had intercepted missile and drone attacks during a blatant Iranian aggression. The Kuwaiti statement came after the US allies Bahrain and Jordan said their air defence systems intercepted several Iranian air attacks on Wednesday. Damage to a residential building after an Iranian drone attack occurred, according to Kuwaiti authorities, in Kuwait City on Thursday.
Weapons Resilience and the Failure of Interception Assumptions
Among the weapons Iran has used this week is its Kheibar Shekan medium-range ballistic missile system. The cheap and accurate missile can be launched within minutes and has become a staple of Iranian strikes. The rocket’s solid fuel motor means it does not require lengthy fuelling. It can be deployed very quickly to avoid detection and can be armed with a powered and steerable final stage to help beat anti-missile systems. Despite claims by the Trump administration that Tehran is running out of rockets, Iran continues to fire missiles that are considerably cheaper to produce than the US interceptors used to shoot them down. Iran has claimed as recently as the end of August that it maintained both missiles stockpiles and the ability to manufacture them.
“Initially, some believed that Iran had only a limited number of missiles and that its stockpiles would eventually be depleted as the war continued,” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Brig Gen Hossein Mohebbi said. “However, that assumption proved incorrect, as Iran’s missile capability has remained sustained and its missile production has continued.”
Brig Gen Hossein Mohebbi, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Israeli Warnings Over Economic Suffocation and Regime Survival
The continued strikes came as Israeli’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said that while the new US economic sanctions appeared to be effective, the increased pressure could lead Tehran into extreme measures. Last month, the US Treasury announced a new series of sanctions to “asphyxiate” the Iranian economy, and the US air force resumed raids on Iran on Sunday. Speaking at a ceremony for defence ministry employees on Thursday, Katz evaluated the dual impact of economic distress and domestic unrest.
“We see signs indicating that the heavy economic pressure they are under, and the fear of an uprising and the collapse of the regime, may push them to desperate steps.”
خبر فوری – احتمال حمله آمریکا/اسرائیل به ایران تا ساعاتی دیگر – آماده باش سراسری
Israel Katz, Israeli Defence Minister
Israel launched the Middle East war alongside the United States in late February, but has stayed on the sidelines militarily since President Donald Trump sealed a ceasefire deal in April — even after that truce later fell apart. In retaliation, Iran attacked US military targets in the Gulf and in Israel’s eastern neighbour Jordan, but has refrained from targeting Israel. “The ayatollahs’ regime in Iran knows very well why it does not attack Israel after we struck them powerfully twice, destroyed their nuclear programme, eliminated (supreme leader Ali) Khamenei, and severely damaged their strategic capabilities,Katz said Thursday, referring to previous rounds of confrontation last year and earlier this year. In an interview on Wednesday, Katz had said Israel was prepared to respondwith great force” if attacked by Iran over the Jewish high holiday season, which begins in mid-September. The hawkish minister reiterated the threats against the Islamic Republic that he has made in recent months, stating, An Iranian attack on Israel will free Israel from any existing constraint. He added, We will strike all of Iran’s national military and civilian infrastructure – including energy infrastructure – and push Iran deep back into the stone age.
