TEHRAN — The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched a ballistic missile strike on the U.S.-run Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan’s Azraq, destroying three American F-35 fighter jets and heavily damaging three others in retaliation for a U.S. airstrike that martyred three members of a family on Iran’s Qeshm Island.
The IRGC’s public relations office issued the statement on Thursday, addressing the “honorable and discerning people of Jordan.” It thanked Jordanians for their “sincere support and cooperation,” particularly the “clear positions” taken by some Jordanian elites, saying their stance has increased pressure on the United States.
The statement noted that the United States launched an airstrike before dawn using “occupied bases” in Jordan after being unable to confront Iran in direct war. 
The IRGC said US forces targeted two residential homes in the Chah Tangu neighborhood of Qeshm Island with heavy bombs, killing a father, a mother and one of their children while wounding two other children. Two other children survived the attack and were taken to hospital for treatment.
“In response to this crime and to help you liberate the Islamic land of Jordan from the scourge of the American occupiers,” the IRGC said, “the Aerospace Force fighters attacked the deployment ramp and maintenance hangar of the enemy’s American F-35 fighter jets at Al-Azraq Air Base this morning with several ballistic missiles.”
The statement said that the strike “completely destroyed three F-35 aircraft and inflicted heavy damage on three others.” It also said several U.S. officers as well as technical and maintenance personnel were killed in the attack.
“The region is no place for a child-killing army that so brutally massacres innocent families in their sleep at midnight,” the statement said. “Our struggle, alongside yours, will continue until the last American occupier is expelled from Islamic lands.”
The IRGC later released photographic evidence directly contradicting claims by the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) regarding the effectiveness of Iranian retaliatory strikes. 
The newly published images show clear impact damage to a major maintenance and repair hangar for U.S. fighter jets at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, proving that Iranian precision munitions successfully penetrated the base’s defenses.
The release comes in direct response to CENTCOM’s earlier statement, which had claimed that all Iranian missiles launched during the operation were intercepted by U,S. air defense systems and that no aircraft or equipment within the base had sustained any damage.
Initial imagery provided by the IRGC clearly depicts structural damage to the roof and interior of the specialized hangar used for servicing advanced U.S. warplanes. The visual evidence serves as a stark rebuttal to the Pentagon’s attempt to downplay the severity of the strike.
In a message accompanying the photos, the IRGC stated, “It is better to stop the intense censorship and provide accurate data to the world so that people can judge for themselves and see live what we mean when we say ‘the aggressor will be punished’, and that this punishment happens immediately.”

The Islamic Republic of Iran Army also successfully executed the 26th phase of Operation Thunder, launching a precise drone strike against the United States military’s Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain. 
The operation, carried out by advanced destruction drones, targeted critical infrastructure, including power generators, navigation systems, and administrative support buildings of the US military presence in the region.
According to a statement from the Army’s Public Relations Department, the strike was a direct and justified act of retaliation for the martyrdom of Brigadier General Majid Kazemi, the valiant Su-24 pilot who was killed in action while defending the Islamic Republic against U.S.-Zionist aggression.
“Despite the presence of multiple advanced defense systems and heavy fortification, recent and ongoing attacks on U.S. bases in the region have inflicted significant damage on the equipment and facilities of the U.S. military, whose regional footprint is defined by aggression and war crimes,” the statement read.
The Sheikh Isa Air Base is considered one of the most sensitive and strategically vital U.S. military installations in the Persian Gulf, serving as a primary hub for U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and a major maintenance and logistics center for helicopters and drone components.
Additionally, the Iranian Army said it has targeted key facilities at U.S.-run Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, marking the 27th phase of Operation Sa’eqeh. 
According to the statement, loitering drones targeted aircraft shelters, satellite communications systems and equipment storage facilities at the base, a major hub for U.S, air and surveillance operations and a vital center for logistical support of American forces.
Satellite imagery indicated new damage at another U.S.-operated military installation in Kuwait. Soar Atlas, specializing in maps and satellite imagery, said its assessment of newly released satellite images suggested fresh damage at Ali Al Salem Air Base. 
According to the analysis, part of a storage area used by U.S. forces appeared blackened in the latest imagery, indicating that the facility may have sustained damage.
The developments come as The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Washington is reassessing the scale of its military presence in Kuwait. 
Citing U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations, the newspaper said the Pentagon had already been considering reducing its troop presence before the war on Iran began and has since scaled back personnel in Kuwait to minimize the risk posed by Iranian attacks on U.S. military bases.
Analysts quoted by the newspaper said U.S. officials increasingly believe that maintaining a large permanent force in Kuwait is no longer militarily necessary.
The U.S. military may reportedly ban mobile phones for some of its troops deployed to West Asia amid Iran’s precise retaliatory operations against American targets across the region. 
Citing informed sources, Reuters reported that some U.S. forces stationed in Jordan have been told their phones will be confiscated in the coming days, despite their reliance on the devices to stay in touch with their families during wartime.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, had detailed the concerns in a letter dated July 28. Cooper said that Iran benefits from near real-time intelligence on the success or failure of its strikes by monitoring news reports and online posts, including “reactions, photos, and footage from the cell phones of our troops.”
“The direct, unavoidable cost of this open-source intelligence could be measured in the lives of American service members” in targeted Persian Gulf Arab countries, he added.
The urgency of Cooper’s message was underlined by a video posted online, showing a U.S. service member recording as soldiers ran for shelter during an Iranian reprisal attack on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan on July 17.
The IRGC Public Relations strongly condemned the abrupt closure of its official Telegram account, describing the move as unmistakable evidence of the front of arrogance’s terror in the face of accurate, people-sourced intelligence on American military positions across the region.
In a statement, the IRGC emphasized that the action came after the brave and noble people of regional countries, particularly in Jordan and Kuwait, demonstrated historical responsibility and Islamic zeal by sending valuable and precise information about the movements and bases of the American regime to the announced IRGC Telegram channel.
“The arrogant enemies could not tolerate this situation and the growing bond among the peoples,” the statement read. 
“Those who have always feared the transparency and awareness of nations, by shutting down the IRGC Public Relations account, once again showed that they have been gripped by panic over the precise and valuable data of the dear Muslim Ummah.”
The statement announced that a new, secure and reliable portal for direct communication with freedom-loving nations will be introduced in the near future.
The top commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters declared that the Americans and their mercenaries have come to the deep realization that coffins constitute an integral part of their military equipment in the region, firmly reiterating the martyred Leader’s historic pronouncement that the era of hit-and-run aggression is over.
In a message issued on Thursday night, Major General Ali Abdollahi stated, “The Americans and their mercenaries have today realized deep in their souls that their coffins are part of their equipment in the region.”
The senior commander recalled the words of the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who had declared that the age of striking without consequence and fleeing has ended. 
Major General Abdollahi, who heads Iran’s highest operational command unit, has consistently warned Washington and its Zionist and regional accomplices against any further miscalculation.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has reportedly grown “exasperated” as his administration remains unable to agree on a strategy regarding the war of aggression against Iran that stretches into its sixth month. 
Citing a U.S. official and people familiar with the matter, NBC News reported that Trump “exploded” during a recent meeting with his top national security officials, “yelling expletives” to express his frustration over the lack of progress in the war.
The official said that despite public displays of satisfaction with how the military assault is going, neither the U.S. president nor his aides are pleased with the status quo. Trump’s aides cannot agree on a path forward, the official added. “After all this time, there is no unity.”
“I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint,” a Trump ally noted. “He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”
Former U.S. defense secretary Leon Panetta declared that Trump has entangled America in an “unwinnable war” against the Islamic Republic of Iran. 
Speaking to CNN’s Pamela Brown on Thursday, Panetta stated that the United States is now locked in a war on Iran that it cannot win.
Asked about the latest re-escalation, he criticized the Trump administration for letting the war “drag on and on without any satisfactory outcome.”
“I think we’re locked into an unwinnable war that is going to continue, as other wars have continued, without any kind of satisfactory conclusion,” he said.
Panetta warned that these perpetual wars are draining U.S. taxpayers’ money, damaging the American economy, and making the United States appear weak to the rest of the world.
“We are finding ourselves in unwinnable wars that ultimately consume the United States, hurt our economy, and most importantly, I think, make us look weak to the rest of the world,” Panetta said.