The United States and Iran have traded airstrikes for a second straight day on Thursday, escalating the conflict triggered by the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in late February.
U.S. Launches New Wave of Attacks, Iran Retaliates
The U.S. military unleashed another round of attacks on Iran, targeting eastern cities including Iranshahr, Bandar Abbas, Konarak, Chabahar, and Bushehr, as well as Aq Qala in northeastern Iran, according to Al Jazeera. State news agency IRNA reported that a firefighter was killed in an attack on the Iranshahr airport.
U.S. Central Command said it completed “an additional round of strikes against Iran … to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping and innocent civilian mariners in the Strait of Hormuz.” They noted that 90 Iranian military targets were hit, including air defence systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage sites, naval capabilities, and military logistics infrastructure along Iran’s coastline.
In retaliation, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards attacked two American bases in Kuwait and two in Bahrain. Before the attack, air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain while the Ministry of Defence in Kuwait reported that its air defences were confronting rocket and drone attacks.
Casualties and Impact
Iran’s Health Ministry said that 14 people have been killed and 78 wounded in the past two days of U.S. strikes, per CNN. The latest American attack targeted more than 90 locations across Iran, with Iranian media reporting explosions and strikes in cities on Iran’s southern coast and the country’s northern Golestan province on the Caspian Sea.
Khamenei Burial Set for Today
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed by Israeli airstrikes in late February that triggered the Iran war, will be buried in a ceremony in Mashhad, Iran, that will be attended by family only, according to state media.
There is speculation on whether Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, will make his first public appearance since his father was assassinated. It’s unclear whether he will attend the burial as he has been absent during the week of funeral ceremonies. His brothers, Mostafa, Masoud and Meysam, represented the family during the week of processions.
Security has been tightened after Israel said last week that Khamenei had been “marked for death.”
