War Resumes As US, Iran Trade Strikes

The IRGC on Wednesday struck US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, where local air defense systems struggled to fend off missile volleys and repel drone swarms.

Unverified reports suggested the US lost another MQ-9 Reaper in the melee. The war with Iran has cost the Pentagon (read: taxpayers) more than $1 billion in Reaper drones alone. As Bloomberg noted in late-May, those losses represent “at least 20% of the Pentagon’s prewar inventory.”

The Guards described the attacks as a retaliatory gesture. Just hours earlier, a series of American strikes destroyed a range of Iranian air defense systems, control networks and anti-ship missiles, as well as dozens of IRGC gunboats.

Centcom said the US was defending freedom of navigation following attacks on vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, when a Saudi oil tanker came under fire and a Qatari LNG vessel was struck near the Omani coast, drawing rebukes from Riyadh and Doha. Although Iran didn’t formally take responsibility for either incident, no one’s under any delusions.

Wednesday’s theatrics further undermine and already tenuous truce and threaten to upend nascent discussions around the fate of the regime’s hobbled nuclear program.

On social media, Bagher Ghalibaf posted a list of what he called “major MOU violations by the US” including the impediment of “Iranian adjustments in the Strait,” attacks on southern Iran, Israel aggression in Lebanon and the reinstatement of oil sanctions.

Following Tuesday’s attacks on energy tankers in the Strait, The White House revoked a waiver that allowed Iran to sell its oil for two months as negotiations unfolded. By targeting ships this week, the Guards have once again imperiled their access to hard currency. With the waiver revoked, Iran’s back to square one: Not allowed to conduct oil sales in USD.

Trump, who’s in Turkey for a NATO summit, suggested the deal’s off. “There’s something wrong with them,” he said, of the Guards. “They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.

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