AJ
⚡️ — US taxpayers foot bill for the Strait of Hormuz being ‘open,’ US launch fresh strikes on Iran with high civilian casualties, Iran responded… all in the Middle East 24 Hour Recap
➡️ The USA is still trying to make it appear as if the Strait of Hormuz is open, but following President Trump’s latest threats and warnings that were issued to Iran, as well as CENTCOM’s statements of attacking ports and infrastructure to keep Iran blind, but cracks were starting to appear and statements began making sense.
🔹 President Trump said on Truth Social that he latest around of strikes was a means of taking out restored or repaired radar towers and monitoring systems for the Persian Gulf, alleging that the US knew Iran would repair or replace units destroyed during the 13-day strikes, and the latest kinetic rounds was to destroy the replacements the United States had observed arriving.
🔹 The latest round of strikes occurred around 24 hours later than the US President had previously warned, which was due to be carried out on the night of August 31 (ET), and was always likely to come after President Trump and US Central Command still claimed the Strait of Hormuz was open, despite the fact the US are having to escort vehicles, while Iran had been able to target them more successfully recently.
🔹 Strikes from the United States targeted the Sistan and Baluchestan, Khuzestan, and Hormozgan, as intel monitors, along with Iran news agencies Fars News, Mehr News, and Irib News, began to eventually confirm attacks along the southwestern part of Iran, in locations including Ahvaz, Chabahar, Sirik, Bandar Abbas, and Qeshm.
🔹 According to multiple intel pages, including Tabz Live and Warfront Witness, the attacks against Iran had originated from the US Navy in the Persian Gulf, along with land-to-land missiles launched from Bahrain, while other unconfirmed reports from Sabereen stated that rockets had also been launched from Kuwaiti territory, and Jordan would have helped with F35-A support from Muwaffaq Salti.
🔹 One thing to note at this point is while the Iraqi media, such as Sabereen News and Naya, had been vital for reports during the 13-day resumption of strikes in July, many of the reports of launches, explosions, and retaliations, appeared to be far from what was happening in reality, and really forced go-to Intel pages to rethink how to track attacks due to the circulating misinformation in the sphere.
CASUALTIES IN IRAN
➡️ The US strikes in Sirik had led to damage of a building which had been hosting a wedding ceremony, killing at least four people, including a child, while injuring 68 others, many of whom remain in hospital this morning, according to Iranian media updates, which also noted a strike on the Khuzestan Province had resulted in seven people killed and injuring eight others.
🔹 Iran’s response to the initial attacks was almost immediate, with strikes and exchanges of fire reported between Iran’s southern shores and the US Navy, even while the waves of US attacks were to continue for at least two more hours at this juncture.
🔹 Within three hours of the initial strikes having been reported by US Central Command, the IRGC had published a statement saying that responses to the attacks would be swift, while US President Donald Trump was issuing devastating warnings and threats of annihilation of Iran should they strike US positions in the Gulf, expecting a large retaliation for the casualties caused by the US strikes.
🔹 Despite multiple reports of missile launches and drone launches by the Iraqi media, as mentioned previously, Iran’s response eventually did come and was swift, targeting three assets in Jordan, which included the Prince Hassan Airbase near Aqaba and the Muwaffaq Salti Airbase, but a surprising addition to the attacks was a new location called Camp Titin.
🔹 According to a report from Fars News International, the United States had shifted parts of its military deployment towards areas further away from the Strait of Hormuz, which had previously been Muwaffaq Salti and Prince Hassan, but was now believed to be the new Camp Titin on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, but Iran’s attack on this newly-formed base or training centre showed the US couldn’t stay out of reach of Iran.
🔹 Following an hour of relative calm, the United States Central Command announced an end to the kinetic strikes on Iran’s southern infrastructure, as the IRGC announced a response was about to be launched, beginning with multiple missiles targeting Jordan, along with alerts in Bahrain, as the IRGC targeted the Issa Airbase on the island.
🔹 Residents of Bahrain reported alerts again around one hour later, however, initial reports were that no explosions had been reported, suggesting the US were attempting to intercept approaching drones, however, around 30 minutes later the silence was broken with the sounds of explosions as the drones approached the coastline, and the all-clear was sounded almost 10 minutes after.
🔹 Kuwait’s Ali Salem Air Base was also targeted by waves of drones and a couple of ballistic missile launches, which Iran would likely have been targeting new US defence systems at the base, along with explosions from drones and missiles in Erbil, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Erbil International airport (confirmed on NASA Firms), and Iraqi media went as far as reporting that the US Embassy had caught fire during the attack.
🔹 The UAE wasn’t excluded either from Iranian attacks, as the Public Relations Department of the Iranian Army announced that US forces stationed at the Al-Zuffra and Al-Mina Had bases had been targeted, while also claiming radar facilities and centres at the Sheikh Isa base had been targeted by a large number of attack drones.
AFTERMATH FROM OFFICIALS
➡️ ABC published a report stating that President Trump was trying to force Iran back to the negotiating table, leading to the US President to lash out, calling the report fake, saying he couldn’t care a less if Iran signed a worthless agreement, and said ‘they are just playing out of the inevitable,’ once again calling for the Iranian people to rise up and protest.
➡️ Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X that Minab school children had been murdered, Lamerd sports hall kids were slaughtered, while a Kohestak wedding has now led to children killed with families, stating that if a power acts like Satan, picks targets like Satan, and kills like Satan, it’s Satan: “Shields a junior Satan that does the same? It’s THE Great Satan,” the MP said.
Check out the IRGC and Iranian Army announcements, conveniently compiled into one 24-hour recap, posted here.
