Shortly after 5:00 am Bulgarian time, Tehran's military wing - the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps - officially announced that it had carried out massive attacks with drones and ballistic missiles.
The strikes hit key US military facilities and logistics centers on the territory of Kuwait and Jordan.
According to the official statement of the Guards, quoted in the international news exchange, the targets of the attack after 5:00 am were the US logistics center in Mina Abdullah (Kuwait) and the Al-Azraq air base in Jordan, where communication systems and fuel tanks were targeted. The military command in Tehran stressed that these actions were a direct response to the ongoing US air strikes against Iranian positions. Local sources in Jordan confirmed the activation of air defense systems.
Strait of Hormuz Closed: Global Economy Under Siege
In parallel with the military strikes, Tehran imposed a complete blockade of shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly a fifth of the world's energy traffic passes. The decision blocked the passage of oil and natural gas tankers, which immediately caused turmoil in international markets and a surge in commodity prices.
UNICEF: 23 million children face humanitarian catastrophe
The global economic consequences of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz pose an unprecedented risk to the most vulnerable. In an official statement released by the United Nations, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell warned of a severe global shock.
According to the fund's new report “The Impact of War in the Middle East on Children in Poor Households“, escalation and disruption of supply chains threaten to push between 18 and 23.4 million additional children worldwide in extreme monetary poverty by the end of the year.
“Children are paying the price of escalating conflict, including those living far beyond the region. Rapidly rising costs are making food and education unaffordable for millions of families. If the world does not respond quickly, hard-won economic gains will be completely wiped out,“ warned UNICEF Executive Director, Catherine Russell.
The hardest hit are expected to be populations in developing regions of Asia and Africa, where health and social protection budgets are already under historic pressure.