Iran unleashes furious drone blitz after vowing US would ‘bitterly regret’ torpedoing its warship
Iran unleashes furious drone blitz after vowing US would ‘bitterly regret’ torpedoing its warship
US submarine attack sparks Iranian retaliation
An Iranian warship was sunk by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, prompting a wave of strikes across the Middle East. The incident, which killed at least 87 sailors and left 70 missing, marked the first time since World War II that an American submarine had dispatched a torpedo to sink an enemy vessel.
‘We confirmed that Iran has no role in the attack on the US embassy in Riyadh,’ Iran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Alireza Enayati, stated after the US claimed its embassy was targeted.
Iran retaliated with a coordinated assault, deploying hundreds of drones and missiles to strike multiple Arab nations. Smoke billowed over Riyadh as cruise missiles hit the Saudi capital on the sixth day of the conflict, while the UAE faced a barrage that included a ballistic missile and 131 suicide drones.
Regional fallout intensifies
Damage was reported in Qatar and Kuwait as explosions echoed through their cities. In Bahrain, a major petroleum refinery caught fire following an Iranian missile strike, threatening oil production capacity of 267,000 barrels per day. Azerbaijan, too, became a target, with Iranian-made drones hitting near the border and injuring four civilians, including a fire at an airport terminal in Nakhchivan.
Meanwhile, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, described the sinking of the Iranian warship Iris Dena as a ‘quiet death’ after a torpedo struck it. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack as ‘an atrocity at sea’ and warned the US would ‘bitterly regret’ its actions.
Escalating tensions and accusations
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev labeled the strikes as ‘terrorism,’ vowing retaliation. He demanded an apology, but Tehran shifted blame to Israel, Azerbaijan’s ally, accusing it of orchestrating a provocation. In a rare clerical statement, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli called for ‘the shedding of Zionist blood, the shedding of Trump’s blood’ via state television.
Footage from the Indian Ocean showed the submerged warship, while 32 survivors were rescued and 87 bodies recovered. In Israel, at least nine civilians were killed in an Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh. The Israeli Air Force confirmed over 5,000 munitions had been dropped on Iran since the conflict began, causing severe damage to key buildings and infrastructure in Tehran.
Alerts sounded in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Fujairah as residents and tourists were urged to take cover. Yas Marina, the UAE’s F1 circuit, was among the sites affected by the drone barrage. The Iranian military’s focus on American and energy targets in the region came amid ongoing clashes with the US-Israeli air campaign that killed its supreme leader and top officials.