Iran warns Gulf neighbors of "proportionate" military response

2026-07-18 14:45:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

In a stark warning after the seventh night of US strikes against Iran, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said neighboring Gulf countries should be prepared to face an "appropriate and proportionate" military response.

In the statement, the IRGC called on "host countries" that host US military bases to activate civil defense units and move civilians away from potential military targets, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported on Saturday.

The IRGC's warning came shortly after the United States changed its military strategy, expanding attacks from targets near the Strait of Hormuz to several locations in central and southern Iran on Saturday.

Citing the IRGC, the Iranian ISNA agency reported that this new warning is Iran's direct response "to the change in US military strategy" over the past 24 hours.

Referring to the ongoing US attacks, the IRGC justified the warning by stating that Iran is implementing "mutual defense" after the "failure of international bodies to stop these actions."

Late Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the new attacks are aimed at continuing to weaken Iran's military capabilities, on the orders of the commander-in-chief, US President Donald Trump.

According to CENTCOM, "surveillance centers, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons depots, and naval capabilities" were hit, using fighter jets, drones, warships, and other military assets.

Earlier, top Iranian military officials threatened "full-scale offensive operations" if the US continued the attacks for another two or three days.

Quoting Major General Mohsen Rezaei, a senior military adviser to Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the Iranian news agency IRIB reported that "Iran will no longer be limited to equivalent retaliatory responses... and no political border will be safe."

Meanwhile, Tehran continued to launch drones and missiles towards Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar on Saturday, causing damage to infrastructure.

According to Al Jazeera, the security threat level in Qatar was raised after loud explosions were heard in the capital Doha in the early hours of Saturday morning. Citing Qatar's Interior Ministry, the broadcaster reported that a child was injured by shrapnel from the attacks.

Qatar hosts a large US military base and has been the target of regular Iranian drone and missile attacks since the conflict began in late February.

In Kuwait, the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy announced on Saturday that a power generation and water desalination plant was hit by Iranian attacks, causing a fire and damaging a large number of power generation units.

As hostilities continue and there is a risk of further escalation of the war, calls for an immediate ceasefire and the return of dialogue are growing.

The foreign ministers of China and Pakistan, in a joint appeal, called for the restoration of the ceasefire agreed between Iran and the United States last month./ Rel