IRGC Defends Strikes on US Bases as Legal Right

In a statement addressed to the "noble and honourable people of Jordan," the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) defended its recent strikes on US military bases in the region, asserting that targeting these installations is Iran's legal, moral, and religious right. The IRGC said its forces carried out lightning strikes that destroyed a THAAD missile defense system radar, a Patriot system, and a C-RAM radar at a US base. Fuel storage tanks were set ablaze, and a large helicopter equipment warehouse along with a helicopter maintenance and repair shed were burned and destroyed.

The IRGC directly addressed claims that its attacks violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of host nations, calling such judgments "completely incorrect." It underlined that US bases in countries like Jordan are not under the control of the host government. "The American military police enforce order there, not your military police. An American judge rules on crimes committed there, not your judge. American law governs there, not your law. Not even your defence minister can enter without the permission of the American military police."

"It is America that has violated your territorial integrity and sovereignty, not us," the IRGC said. "We are attacking lands occupied by the American army, an army that knows nothing but crime." The statement invoked the memory of the 168 schoolchildren killed in Minab on the first day of the war in a US strike, saying their families had only the previous day buried the remains of their children recovered from the rubble. "These crimes continue, and part of them are carried out using American bases on Jordanian soil," it said.

"It is our legal, religious and logical right to target the aggressor against our country and the killer of our children from wherever it attacks," the IRGC added. The IRGC thanked the Jordanian people for their cooperation. According to Mehr News, the statement underscores Iran's position that its military actions are defensive and justified under international law.