Tehran announces "destruction" of the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday (July 15th) announced the implementation of attacks targeting US sites and facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, stressing that the operation came in response to US hostilities.

The IRGC said in a statement at dawn today that it had destroyed the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, along with fuel facilities and military equipment in Bahrain, and that it had also targeted the US military logistics support centre in Kuwait's Port Abdullah, confirming that it had been set on fire and destroyed.

"The enemy must ... It is also expected that other routes for the export of oil and gas that serve the interests of the United States and its allies will be closed," warning that "oil and gas exports in the region will either be available to everyone or not to anyone."

In a related context, Iranian state media, quoting the army, reported that US military facilities at the Azraq base in Jordan were targeted for the second time.

The IRGC stressed that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed "until the end of America's evils," referring to the continued military escalation between Tehran and Washington.

CENTCOM announces bombing of Iranian missile and drone sites

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it has carried out a new round of military strikes against Iranian targets, confirming that the operations will end at 10 p.m. East Coast time in the United States, on Tuesday.

CENTCOM said the strikes targeted dozens of military sites near the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's coastal areas, as part of the ongoing US operations against Iran's military capabilities.

It added that the operation involved US fighter jets, drones and warships, during which precision-guided munitions were used to target sites designated for Iranian missiles and drones.

Trump: We will hit bridges and power plants

Hours after retracting his  threat to impose taxes on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump warned that he would expand US strikes on Iran next week to include power plants and bridges if Tehran does not agree to a deal.   

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said : "Next week is going to be very bad for them because next week is going to be targeting power plants.Next week they will target bridges."

 "We will destroy all their power plants.When asked how long the  U.S. strikes  will last, Trump replied, "They'll continue until I say that's enough."

Kuwaiti Fire Brigade Extinguishes Fire  After Iranian Attack

The official Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) quoted the official spokesman of the fire force, Brigadier General Mohammed Al-Gharib, as saying that a fire was brought under control in one of the locations in the country without any injuries after it was targeted "as part of hostile attacks by the Iranian aggression."

Six fire brigades, backed by army and National Guard fire brigades, took part in the operation, the spokesman said.

What is Juffair Base in Bahrain (US Fifth Fleet Headquarters)?

The U.S. Fifth Fleet Command is based at the U.S. Naval Support Base (NSA Bahrain) in the Juffair area, east of Manama, and is Washington's most important naval pillar in the Middle East, and the U.S. Navy's only permanent logistics and operational hub in the Persian Gulf.

The base is home to about 9,000 U.S. Defense Department military and civilian personnel, making it one of the busiest naval facilities in the region.

From its headquarters in Juffair, the Fifth Fleet commands a massive operational scope of 2.5 million square miles, covering the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, the Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean, as well as managing the security of the Strait of Hormuz, Bab al-Mandeb and the Suez Canal.

The base was a British site known as HMS Jufair during World War II, before it was transferred to the United States in 1971 following Britain's withdrawal from East Suez, and in 1995, Washington officially reactivated the Fifth Fleet after the Second Gulf War, making Jufair the permanent command center for U.S. naval operations in the region.