Tehran: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday, September 5, that its forces had smashed a “terror” team it said was affiliated with the United States and Israel in southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, killing two of its members.
In a statement published on the IRGC’s official news outlet, Sepah News, the Quds Base of the Ground Force of the IRGC said the “terror” team was busted in a joint operation involving its members as well as the provincial police and intelligence forces.
It said the team had sought to perpetrate “acts of terror” against a series of “pre-determined” targets.
Late last month, the IRGC said its forces dismantled a US- and Israeli-linked “terror” team in the province, killing one of its members and arresting six others, according to Sepah News.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, an Iranian oil tanker was hit by four US projectiles near the strategic Kharg Island, Iranian media reported, amid renewed military escalation between Washington and Tehran and growing concerns over shipping in the Gulf.
No casualties were reported, and the vessel’s crew began evacuating, according to local accounts. Iranian authorities had not immediately confirmed the reported attack.
Explosions were heard in the Kharg Island area earlier on Saturday. Fars News Agency said its correspondent heard several blasts coming from the Persian Gulf but saw no smoke, while the source of the explosions was initially unclear.
Key oil export hub
Kharg Island is central to Iran’s energy infrastructure, serving as the country’s main crude export terminal and handling an estimated 90 to 95 per cent of its oil exports.
The reported strike comes days after US President Donald Trump raised the prospect of action against the island amid renewed tensions. Any disruption around Kharg could have significant implications for Iran’s oil exports and regional energy markets.
The incident comes as the months-long confrontation between the United States and Iran has intensified around the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
Army earlier struck US military bases
Iran’s Army said on Thursday that its forces had struck US military bases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait with missiles and kamikaze drones earlier in the day.
In a statement on its website, the army said the strikes were in revenge for the Iranian military personnel and civilians killed in recent US attacks against Iran.
It added that its forces targeted the US Army’s satellite communications systems, equipment warehouses, and a fighter aircraft hangar at the Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, causing damage to the communications systems and the hangar, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The army said it also struck the US troops and radar systems at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE, stressing that its forces’ responses to any attack by the US Army will be “harsh and devastating and will continue until achieving the ultimate victory and punishing the aggressor.”
On Wednesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on social media platform X that its forces had “successfully completed a wave of strikes against Iranian military targets”, citing “recent attempted attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members.”
