IRGC Strikes US Airbase in Retaliation as Fragile Ceasefire Teeters on the Brink

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced it carried out a strike on a US airbase in retaliation for a nighttime American attack in the vicinity of Bandar Abbas and the destruction of several Iranian drones.

It remains unclear whether this latest exchange of blows signals the end of the current ceasefire and the suspension of indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States, which have been facilitated through Pakistani mediation.

Both sides have acknowledged serious disagreements on the core contentious issues: the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad, the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme, and control over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.

In such a highly charged atmosphere, the fresh exchange of strikes risks igniting a new and uncontrolled escalation across the already volatile region.