Explosions heard in Iran amid renewed US strikes; Kuwait says confronting ‘hostile’ missile attacks

Tehran: Several explosions were heard in southern and central Iran on Monday night and early Tuesday, Iranian media reported, as US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the launch of a new round of strikes against the country.

Blasts were reported on Monday night in the counties of Bandar Abbas, Sirik, Bandar Lengeh and Qeshm in the southern province of Hormozgan, as well as the counties of Chabahar and Konarak in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, Xinhua news agency reported quoting Iranian media.

Air defenses were activated in the southern port city of Bushehr to “engage with hostile aircraft,” the official news agency IRNA reported on Monday night.

On early Tuesday, an explosion was heard in the southern city of Shiraz, and two explosions were heard in the central city of Isfahan, according to the IRNA and the semi-official Mehr news agency.

The incidents occurred as CENTCOM announced Monday night a new round of strikes against Iran on social media platform X, saying they are designed “to further degrade Iranian military capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Separately, the General Staff of the Kuwaiti Army said early Tuesday on X that its air defenses are currently responding to “hostile missile and drone threats.”

Over the past week, the United States has launched multiple strikes on Iran, saying they were aimed at “degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping.”

Iran has responded with waves of missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. military bases and facilities in regional countries, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

On Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian declared a “full-scale war” with the United States, though Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran had received mediation proposals and keeps its diplomatic channels open.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday that its forces earlier in the day launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes against US assets and facilities in Jordan and Kuwait.

In statements published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said it struck with ballistic missiles the US Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft at an airport in Jordan’s port city of Aqaba, and heavily damaged a number of them.

It added that its forces attacked with drones and destroyed an American early warning radar system in Kuwait, and targeted a warehouse of equipment and aircraft parts as well as a hangar of MQ-9 Reaper drones at the Ali Al Salem Air Base, setting on fire a number of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

The IRGC said the attacks were in retaliation to the US’ frequent “aggressions” against Iran’s territory.

IANS