Khamenei military aide: US troops in the Gulf within Iran missile range

A top military aide to Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei, Major General Rahim Safavi warned that the American troops and warships in Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain were within the range of Iranian missiles.

“The United States has more than 25 military bases in the region where over 20,000 US military personnel are based,” Rahim Safavi said, adding that the US military bases and personnel were within the range of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ “shore to sea missiles”.

The top Iranian official stressed that only the US will lose from any future confrontation with his country.

Iran cleric: US ‘fleet can be destroyed with one missile’

The US has recently deployed more military equipment and an additional 1,500 troops to the Gulf to counter what Washington claims to be “Iranian threats”.

Tensions between Iran and the United States have increased since the US withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement signed with Tehran and re-imposed sanctions previously lifted under the agreement.

Last month, Washington accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of attacking four oil tankers just outside the Strait of Hormuz. Charges Iran denies.