Iran and U.S. exchange fresh strikes

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced it struck and destroyed a U.S.-used air base in retaliation for a U.S. strike on a telecommunications tower on Sirik Island in Hormozgan Province. The IRGC said its Aerospace Force targeted the base from which the “aggressor US military” launched the earlier attack and destroyed predetermined targets, warning that any repeat aggression would provoke a far stronger response and placing responsibility for consequences on the United States.

The announcement followed U.S. Central Command’s statement that it carried out “self‑defense strikes” over the weekend against Iranian radar and drone command-and-control facilities in Goruk and on Qeshm Island, actions CENTCOM said were in response to “aggressive Iranian actions,” including the shootdown of a U.S. MQ‑1 Predator drone operating over international waters. Iran’s IRGC public relations arm separately confirmed that its air defense units intercepted and destroyed an MQ‑1 Predator after it allegedly entered Iranian airspace over the Persian Gulf.

The U.S. said it conducted "self-defense strikes" on Iranian radar and drone control sites in Iran's Goruk and Qeshm Island at the weekend in what it said was a response to "aggressive" actions from Tehran. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X that Iran had shot down a U.S. MQ-1 drone that was operating over international waters. CENTCOM said U.S. fighter aircraft responded by eliminating Iranian air defenses, a ground control station, and two one-way attack drones. It added that no U.S. military personnel were harmed.

The two countries had traded strikes last week as well with Iran targeting a U.S. air base after the U.S. military carried out what a Washington official said were strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation near the Strait of Hormuz. The exchanges mark a sharp escalation in tit‑for‑tat strikes between U.S. forces and Iranian military units, with each side framing its actions as defensive responses to the other’s provocations. The incidents raise risks of further confrontation in the region as both Tehran and Washington signal readiness to strike military targets tied to their adversary’s operations.