At 21:45 Tehran time on Tuesday 21 July, Iranian state media announced that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Artesh, Iran's regular Army, had destroyed radar and Patriot air-defence installations at four Gulf bases1. The sites named were Ali Al Salem and Ahmad al-Jaber air bases in Kuwait, and Muhayan and Riffa in Bahrain.
The IRGC called it the 24th wave of Operation Nasr-2. The Artesh called its own share the 19th phase of Operation Saeqeh, a campaign the Artesh has been numbering in public for weeks. The IRGC had logged its 22nd wave against Ali al-Salem the day before.
Kuwait's account uses a different verb. Colonel Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaiwan, the defence ministry spokesman, said Kuwaiti air defences had intercepted four cruise missiles and 21 drones since dawn on Wednesday 22 July2. Kuwait uses اعتراض, i'tiraad, interception, throughout its statement. تدمير, tadmeer, destruction, appears nowhere in it. Bahrain's Defence Force does use اعتراض وتدمير, intercepted and destroyed, but what it describes as destroyed is the incoming munition, not a Bahraini installation3.
Neither government names any of the four bases Iran claims to have hit, and neither confirms the loss of a single system. Iran further says several US soldiers were killed at the Al-Rukban compound in Jordan. No Jordanian, American or independent source supports that. CENTCOM (US Central Command) has not addressed any of it.
This marks the fifth dated iteration of the same claim against the same handful of installations since 13 July. A wave number moving from 22 to 24 tells a reader nothing about what was hit. The choice of verb, in the statements of the countries being hit, tells them rather more.
