DST News: The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has launched a large-scale retaliatory operation against US forces, targeting 85 key American military sites across West Asia following what it described as a US violation of a ceasefire agreement.

In a statement released early Wednesday, the IRGC said the operation was carried out in response to US airstrikes on several coastal bases and non-military facilities in Iran’s southern provinces of Hormozgan and Khuzestan’s Mahshahr area. The statement accused Washington of breaching the Iran-US memorandum of understanding and the Islamabad agreement.

According to the IRGC, its naval and aerospace forces jointly carried out missile and drone attacks against 85 locations associated with US military installations, including facilities at Salman Port and the US Fifth Naval District in Bahrain, as well as Ali Al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

The statement also claimed that Iranian air defense units shot down a US MQ-9 drone that allegedly attempted to interfere with the operation.

In a separate statement, IRGC spokesperson Brigadier General Hossein Mobini said the MQ-9 drone was intercepted over the skies of Khoromoj in Bushehr Province after entering Iranian airspace during the early morning US aerial operation.

The IRGC described the retaliatory strikes as the first phase of its response to the latest US military action in the region.

Source: IRNA