Read our editorials on the US-Israeli war on Iran here and here.
Iran struck a US airbase in Jordan on July 28 in a surprise attack, ending a three-day pause in fighting. After trading strikes for several days, US imperialism once again paused its attacks on August 1 as it struggles with a shortage of critical munitions and deepening military failures.
Iran’s surprise attack marks a break from its tit-for-tat approach by striking first, showing greater confidence in its ability to impose its demands on US imperialism and its regional lackeys.
In response to US imperialism’s ensuing retaliation, Iran escalated with another wave of strikes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that it had destroyed three F-35 fighter jets and damaged three others at a US airbase in Jordan on July 30. Afterwards, the IRGC said it destroyed two drone hangars and a fuel storage facility for military aircraft at a US airbase in Kuwait. The Iranian Army said it damaged another US airbase in Kuwait the following day, targeting aircraft shelters, satellite communication systems, and equipment storage facilities.
US Central Command claimed that the US strikes hit “dozens” of IRGC targets, attaching footage of strikes on alleged military targets in a public release. Non-US military footage of the strikes and their aftermath suggest that only civilian targets were hit, killing three members of a family on Qeshm Island.
“With every explosion, every crime, every sanction, every threat, and every child you kill, you only make Iranians more determined and united in defending their homeland,” Iran Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday.
The scope of the war has widened over the past week. On July 29, the US and Saudi Arabia carried out joint attacks on several resistance bases of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in Iraq, killing at least 20 combatants and wounding 32, according to the PMF. Iranian media report that five IRGC members who had been helping secure an annual Islamic pilgrimage in Iraq were also killed in the strikes. The US and Saudi Arabia claimed PMF was involved in attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, which the organization has denied. The attack marks Saudi Arabia’s first open acknowledgment of joining the latest war alongside the US. PMF has promised “a harsh response”.
Also on July 29, two ships caught fire in an explosion caused by an alleged drone strike at an Egyptian port, marking the first attack on Egyptian territory in the latest war. One of the ships is a US-owned natural gas storage tanker. The New York Times reports two Iranians anonymously told the monopoly outlet the drone attack aims to show Iran’s ability to further disrupt shipping and energy supplies.
Iran’s surprise attack and the widening scale of the war speak to US imperialism’s inability to control the tempo or outcome of the war, contrary to the Trump administration’s claims. On August 1, Trump once again called off strikes on Iran, claiming that a new deal is underway. A July 26 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies says the US is facing a shortage of critical munition supplies, with only about one-third to one-half of key interceptors remaining compared to prewar levels.
An Iranian missile launcher. Credit: Press TV.
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