TEHRAN - Three members of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed early Thursday in US airstrikes, as the IRGC said it had launched retaliatory strikes on US military facilities in Jordan and Kuwait, Iranian media reported.

Iran's semi-official Mehr news agency identified the victims as Mahmoud Mollajabbari, Mohammad-Reza Cheraghi, and Jamal Amiri, serving with the IRGC's Ansar al-Mahdi unit in northwestern Zanjan province.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on the social media platform X early Thursday that its forces had completed "a heavy wave of strikes against Iran in response to yesterday's attempted missile attacks on US forces".

It added that US forces struck dozens of IRGC sites, "including military command centers, missile and drone facilities, coastal surveillance and defense sites, and maritime capabilities".

According to Iran's official news agency IRNA, the strikes mainly targeted four southern Iranian provinces of Hormozgan, Khuzestan, Fars, and Bushehr.

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It added that one strike on a residential building on Qeshm Island killed three members of a family and wounded two others belonging to the same family.

Condemning the US strike on the island's residential building, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said every explosion, attack, sanction, threat, and killing of children would strengthen the Iranian people's determination and unity in defending their country and rights. 

In a statement on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said its aerospace forces struck the Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan with ballistic missiles, targeting the deployment ramp and maintenance and repair hangar of the F-35 fighter jets.

It added that three F-35s were destroyed, three others heavily damaged, and several "enemy" officers and technical and maintenance personnel killed.

The IRGC also announced that its aerospace and ground forces had struck US facilities and assets at the Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, claiming to have destroyed two drone hangars, an aviation fuel depot, and US military helicopters.

The operation, it added, was aimed at "punishing the aggressors".

The latest clashes came after a few days of pause in hostilities between the United States and Iran. Before the pause, the United States launched multiple waves of strikes against Iranian targets, saying they were in response to Iranian attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and aimed at "degrading Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping". Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US military bases and facilities across the region. 

US assets in Bahrain's air base

In a statement published on its website, the Iranian army said it launched drone strikes on Thursday against US facilities and assets at Sheikh Isa Air Base in southern Bahrain.

The army said the strikes targeted the US military's power generators, navigation systems, and office and backup buildings at the base.

Bulgaria, Cyprus urged not to let US use bases 

In two separate phone calls on Thursday with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova and Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi urged Bulgaria and Cyprus not to allow the US to use military bases on their territories for attacks against Iran, according to ministry statements.

During the conversation with Petrova, Araghchi said Bulgaria's parliamentary approval of US tanker aircraft deployment at Bezmer Air Base to support "aggressive operations against Iran" violates international law and friendly bilateral ties.

He cited UN General Assembly Resolution 3314, which considers making territory available for aggression against a third state as an act of aggression.

On July 22, Bulgaria's parliament approved the deployment of up to eight US KC-135 tanker aircraft at Bezmer Air Base from July 24 to Oct 1, despite opposition from local mayors.

In the talks with Kombos, Araghchi stressed the need to prevent "abuse" of foreign bases in Cyprus for "aggression" against Iran.

Kombos said Cyprus has contacted Britain to ensure that British bases on Cypriot territory would not be used against any country.

Two oil tankers return from Strait of Hormuz after one catches fire

In another development, the IRGC said two oil tankers seeking to cross the Strait of Hormuz via what it described as an "unsafe" southern route the previous night returned shortly after one of the vessels caught fire.

In a statement carried by Sepah News, the IRGC said the tankers had chosen the southern route following what it called provocations by US military aircraft.

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The IRGC reiterated that the Strait of Hormuz remains under the control of its naval forces. It warned that regional countries assisting the "aggressor" would face serious consequences unless they changed their policies.