Iran fires missiles, drones at Gulf nations as ship hit in Strait of Hormuz

Iran Gulf attacks

Iran has launched howitzers and drones at targets throughout the Gulf, including a United States base in Kuwait, in what it referred to as its 37th wave of attacks on day 12 of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The attacks are escalating as tensions grow amid a global energy crisis, with one vessel burning in the Strait of Hormuz.

The United Nations Security Council later was to vote on a resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) calling on Iran to cease its attacks against Arab countries.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday that it fired four missiles at the headquarters of US forces in the Middle East, including two targeting Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

Kuwait’s authorities did not confirm the reports. But the country’s National Guard reported that eight were targeting the country and had been shot down.

Several explosions were heard on Wednesday morning in the Qatari capital, Doha, as Qatar’s Ministry of Defence announced that the country’s military had intercepted a new missile attack targeting the Gulf nation.

“A little west of the city, we would see interceptions — those smoke clouds when the defensive weapons that Qatar had made contact with those incoming missiles. These have become a staple not just here, but throughout the GCC."

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that it had intercepted and destroyed five of the drones, which were heading toward the vast Shaybah oilfield in the kingdom’s Empty Quarter desert. It said that it had intercepted and destroyed two drones in the Eastern Province.

In Bahrain, Iranian attacks injured dozens of people, including children, in Sitra outside Manama and a fire broke out at a Ma’ameer facility following a drone strike.
Earlier, one person was killed and eight others injured when a drone struck a residential building in the capital Manama.

The United Arab Emirates also said it had intercepted incoming missiles and drone threats from Iran. Two drones fell in the vicinity of Dubai International airport, injuring four, the Dubai Media Office said.

In a separate incident, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said an unknown projectile had impacted a container vessel in the Strait of Hormuz some 25 nautical miles (46km) northwest of the UAE’s Ras Al-Khaimah emirate, and set it ablaze.

“The master of a bulk carrier has submitted a report that their vessel was struck by an unknown projectile. No environmental impact has been reported. Its crew were all reported safe and well,” the UKMTO added.

Later the British military said another vessel had been hit by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles (93km) northwest of ‌ Dubai,, a bulk carrier.

The crew are reported safe and authorities are investigating, according to the UKMTO.

Detentions Over the Strait of Hormuz

The war is raising fears that it could choke off the flow of cargo across the Strait of Hormuz, a lifeline for the world’s oil and gas supplies, pushing Brent crude higher by about 20 percent since fighting erupted and sending pump prices worldwide rising.

The upheaval has shaken financial markets as fears grow of extended disruption to energy flows.

The U.S. military on Tuesday said it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers close to the Strait of Hormuz, but President Donald Trump added that there remained no confirmed evidence Iran had begun to mine the waterway itself — a possibility experts raised ahead of the war.

The president and chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco, Amin Nasser, warned on Tuesday that if oil tankers were unable to transit the strait “that will have a serious impact on the global economy.”