IRGC threatens US bases in Gulf

A spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf could be targeted as tensions escalate over maritime restrictions and the Strait of Hormuz.

IRGC spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari said on May 17 that Iranian forces had prevented ships from passing through the strategic waterway over the previous 24 hours, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

“In the past 24 hours, the IRGC Navy did not allow any vessel to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” Zolfaghari said in a post on X.

He added: “In the near future, all U.S. military bases in the southern Persian Gulf will be deactivated.”

“We will build the New Order,” he said.

The remarks came as U.S. President Donald Trump urged Iran to reach a peace agreement and abandon its nuclear ambitions, warning that the “clock is ticking.”

Zolfaghari’s comments also followed reports of a drone strike in the United Arab Emirates on May 17 that caused a fire near the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra region.

In a separate post on X, Zolfaghari appeared to reference the incident while sharing what he described as a diagram of a Shahed-136 drone attack.

“The original model of a Shahed-136 drone attack looks like this,” he wrote.

“The fact that we have not yet treated you this way is out of consideration for our Muslim brothers and sisters in the UAE,” he added.

“But our patience has its limits,” he warned.

By Sabina Mammadli