ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in early Thursday it struck a US base used to launch attacks on southern Iran, describing the operation as “a serious warning.”

In the early hours of Thursday, Washington said it struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was preparing to launch an attack drone, Fox News reported, citing a US official.

“These actions were measured, purely defensive, and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” the official said, adding that four other Iranian drones deemed a threat in the Strait of Hormuz were also shot down.

The developments do not mark the first instance of Tehran and Washington accusing each other of breaching the April ceasefire as the two sides exchanged fire.

As Washington and Tehran exchanged fire, the Kuwaiti Army soon after said the country’s air defense systems were “currently confronting hostile missile and drone attacks.”

With an hour passing from the Kuwaiti report, the IRGC claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted a US base, though it did not name the country.

“Following the attack of the US aggressor army at dawn today on a point on the outskirts of Bandar Abbas airport with aerial projectiles, the US air base from which the aggression originated was targeted at 4:50 am,” the IRGC said in a statement. 

The IRGC said the attack was carried out in response to the strikes, describing it as “a serious warning so that the enemy knows that aggression will not go unanswered.”

It stressed that if such actions are repeated, “our response will be more decisive.”

On Tuesday, Washington also said it carried out “self-defense strikes” in Iran’s southern regions in the early hours of the day, with Tehran condemning the attacks as a violation of the April ceasefire between the two sides.

The renewed hostilities came days after signs of progress in negotiations between Tehran and Washington, with Iranian state media publishing what it said was a draft memorandum of understanding with the White House, dismissing the document as “completely fabricated.”

Earlier on Saturday, US President Donald Trump said that an agreement was "largely negotiated" with the Iranian side and awaited finalization, following a series of indirect negotiations through Pakistani mediators.