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Alarm sirens were activated across Bahrain on Tuesday after Iran said it had targeted 85 US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait, in retaliation for fresh US strikes on southern Iran. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry called on residents and citizens to remain calm and head to the nearest safe place, without immediately specifying the source of the threat.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval and aerospace forces carried out a joint missile and drone operation targeting the sites, which it described as an initial response to what it called a violation of the ceasefire agreement between the two countries. The IRGC said the strikes hit the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, following reports of explosions at both facilities. The Kuwaiti army separately said its air defences were confronting hostile missile and drone attacks and urged the public to follow safety instructions issued by the authorities.

The exchange came after US Central Command completed a fresh round of offensive strikes against Iran on July 7, hitting more than 80 targets with precision munitions as an immediate response to Iran’s latest attacks on commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. US forces struck Iranian air defence systems, command and control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities, and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and around the strait, aiming to degrade Iran’s ability to continue targeting international shipping through the corridor.

CENTCOM said the strikes followed Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the strait, including the Marshall Islands flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi Arabia flagged M/T Wedyan and the Liberian flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity. The US military described the attacks on the tankers as a clear and dangerous violation of the ceasefire that undermines freedom of navigation, and said its forces remain postured and prepared to hold Iran accountable if the agreement continues to be violated.

The exchange marks the latest flare up in a cycle of strikes and retaliation between the US and Iran that has repeatedly drawn in Bahrain and Kuwait since fighting first broke out earlier this year, with both Gulf states having faced Iranian missile and drone fire on prior occasions during the conflict.