Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed Sunday that its Aerospace Force struck a U.S. C-17 strategic transport aircraft and a P-8 command-and-control aircraft at Aqaba Airport in southern Jordan with ballistic missiles, inflicting what the group described as "heavy damage" on multiple aircraft — one part of a wider wave of retaliatory strikes launched across the region.

What the IRGC Claimed

According to a statement carried by Iran's Tasnim news agency, the strike on Aqaba was part of what the IRGC described as the 21st phase of its retaliation campaign. In a separate statement, the IRGC said it also carried out a 22nd wave of strikes — dubbed Operation Nasr-2 — against multiple U.S. military facilities at Ali al-Salem Airbase in Kuwait, claiming to have completely destroyed an American early warning radar system in a drone strike and hit aviation equipment, a spare-parts hangar, and an MQ-9 drone shelter, setting several drones on fire. The IRGC separately claimed to have destroyed 20 hangars housing U.S. troops in Jordan's Al-Azraq region, resulting in what it described as "dozens" of casualties. None of these claims have been independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from U.S. or Jordanian authorities.

A Notable and Unusual Thank-You

In an unusual addition to its statement, the IRGC specifically thanked the Jordanian public for what it described as providing intelligence that helped facilitate the strikes. "We thank the people of Jordan for sincere cooperation and accurate information... which enabled our fighters to precisely target the US army," the statement read, going on to reference the killing of Iranian schoolchildren in a strike on Iranian soil and urging Kuwaitis not to allow their territory "to serve as a launching point for aggression."

What Triggered This Round of Strikes

The strikes came after an earlier Iranian attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan killed two American service members, left one missing, and injured four others — an attack that prompted the U.S. to launch what became its eighth consecutive night of strikes on Iran. U.S. Central Command has said its strikes were aimed at further degrading Iran's ability to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. According to U.S. figures, 16 American service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded since the war began on February 28, while Iranian authorities say the latest U.S. strikes alone have killed at least 50 people and wounded 517.

Wider Regional Fallout

The Aqaba strikes triggered broader alarm in the region. The U.S. Embassy said an international airport and seaport in Aqaba were evacuated due to a "specific and credible threat" and advised Americans against traveling there by air or sea — though a Jordanian government spokesperson, Mohammad Al-Momani, told Reuters that Jordanian authorities had not issued any evacuation order and that "the airport and port are operating normally," with no threats recorded by Jordanian authorities in the preceding hours. Israeli military officials separately said they identified Iranian missiles launched toward Aqaba and fired interceptors at missile debris "to prevent debris impact within Israel," reporting no damage or injuries on the Israeli side. Overnight, sirens also sounded in Kuwait, with Kuwaiti armed forces saying they intercepted Iranian missile and drone fire following what officials called "sinful Iranian aggression."

Why the Discrepancy in Official Accounts Matters

The gap between Iran's detailed claims of destruction and Jordan's insistence that its airport and seaport are "operating normally" reflects the broader fog of competing, unverified claims that has characterized much of the conflict's coverage — with state media on both sides offering dramatically different pictures of the same events, and independent confirmation often lagging well behind the initial claims.

What's Next

With the U.S. having just completed its eighth consecutive night of strikes and Iran continuing to claim expanding, multi-phase retaliation across Jordan and Kuwait, the conflict shows no sign of slowing. Independent verification of the specific damage claimed at Aqaba Airport — and whether U.S. military assets were genuinely struck as described — remains pending as of the latest reporting.