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Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Sunday claimed responsibility for a series of strategic attacks on energy and petrochemical facilities across the Gulf region, describing them as retaliation for recent strikes on Iranian infrastructure and warning that a second phase of operations would be "more devastating and widespread".
In an official statement carried by Iranian state media, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the IRGC said its naval and aerospace forces launched the 96th wave of Operation Sadeq 4 in response to damage inflicted on Iran's civil infrastructure, including the Karaj B1 Bridge and Mahshahr petrochemical industries. The operation, the statement said, targeted what the IRGC described as "Zionist and American economic interests" in the region. According to IRIB, the statement detailed that the attacks included a heavy strike on the oil refinery in Haifa, in northern Israel, which supplies fuel for Israeli fighter jets, as well as missile and drone strikes on American-linked facilities in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Fires were reported at the Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron gas facilities in Habshan, UAE, and at a petrochemical plant in Al Ruwais, UAE, which is linked to US military production. Further drone strikes reportedly targeted the Sitrah petrochemical complex in Bahrain and the Shuaiba petrochemical facility in Kuwait, resulting in major fires and the complete shutdown of the complex, according to the IRGC statement, as quoted by IRIB. The Guard emphasised that Sunday's attacks represented only the "first phase" of retaliation, warning that if assaults on civilian infrastructure continue, the second phase of operations would be "much more devastating and widespread", potentially doubling losses for the adversaries, particularly American economic interests in the Gulf. "If the attack on civilian targets is repeated, the second phase of this operation will be much more devastating and widespread, and their losses and damages will be doubled if they insist on this approach. Because in addition to the retaliatory operations that we will have, in the near future we will definitely and definitely take compensation from the aggressors for what they have destroyed, and American taxpayers will be forced to pay for these illegal invasions," IRGC stated in its statement, as quoted by IRIB. These attacks come after US-Israeli strikes killed eight people targeting Iran's "B1 bridge in Karaj" on Friday. Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday stated that it had struck the petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in southwestern Iran, responsible for producing and exporting chemical materials to the regime's armed forces. (ANI)
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