Kamal Ghorui
The United States has said it has destroyed the headquarters of Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, declaring it had “cut off the head of the snake” in a sweeping assault.In a statement, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said a large-scale American strike had wiped out the IRGC’s main command facilities. “America has the most powerful military on earth, and the IRGC no longer has a headquarters,” it said. The command accused the corps of having “killed more than 1,000 Americans over the past 47 years”, adding that the latest operation had dealt a decisive blow.The announcement came on the second day of joint US-Israeli bombardments that also killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in one of the opening strikes. Washington said major combat operations were continuing as part of Operation Epic Fury, with B-2 stealth bombers deploying 2,000-pound bombs against hardened missile facilities and US naval forces striking targets in the Gulf of Oman.CENTCOM confirmed that three US service members had been killed in action and five seriously wounded, marking the first publicly acknowledged American casualties in the conflict. “Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions,” it said, adding that identities would be withheld until families were notified. No details were given about where the deaths occurred.President Donald Trump, speaking from his Florida resort, focused on battlefield gains. He said 48 Iranian leaders had been killed “in one shot” and that nine Iranian naval vessels had been destroyed. Posting on Truth Social after the casualties were reported, he wrote: “We have destroyed and sunk 9 Iranian Naval Ships, some of them relatively large and important.” He did not mention the American fatalities.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed they had struck the USS Abraham Lincoln with four ballistic missiles, but CENTCOM denied this. “The missiles launched didn’t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign,” it said.The conflict has already spread beyond Iran and Israel. Tehran has fired missiles and drones at Israeli cities and at US military installations across the Gulf. Nearly two dozen people were killed in Pakistan after protesters attempted to storm a US consulate, while airspace closures across the region left hundreds of thousands stranded.Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries called the deaths of US troops “heartbroken” news and urged Congress to restrain what he described as a “reckless decision to go to war”. US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz wrote simply: “Freedom is never free.”With Iran’s provisional governing council now meeting to name a successor and Washington insisting that “heavy and pinpoint bombing” will continue, fears are mounting of a wider regional war and deepening global economic shock.
