Iran is seriously weighing a ground incursion into Kuwait aimed at seizing US military bases in the country, including Camp Buehring and either Camp Arifjan or Ali Al Salem Air Base, if the United States continues its military campaign against Tehran, according to comments from a prominent Iranian analyst and a former Iranian foreign minister.
Mahdi Khanalizadeh, an Iranian international relations analyst who has previously argued on Iranian television that American bases across the region are legitimate targets, said that Kuwait is considered one of Iran's principal options for a potential ground incursion aimed at seizing the two US military bases located in the country.
His comments echo remarks made separately by Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's foreign minister from 2005 to 2010 and a current member of parliament, who said in an interview broadcast on Iranian state media that Iran should launch a ground war, infiltrate and seize a US military base in the Middle East, and take thousands of American military personnel hostage. According to reporting from the Jerusalem Post and TASS, Mottaki's remarks were specifically conditioned on the United States seizing Iranian territory, such as Kharg Island, saying that if Washington does so, Iran would have the right to invade what he called US territory represented by American bases in the region through what he described as a combined helicopter-borne and ground assault.
The comments come as Iranian officials have escalated their rhetoric in recent days, with some warning that no political border would remain safe and that Tehran could shift to a full scale offensive if US strikes continue. Advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Mohsen Rezaei said in an interview with Iranian state television that Tehran would move into a phase of full scale offensive operations if the US continues its strikes for several more days, and warned that if the US attempts to seize any locations, Iran may pursue an offensive war rather than a defensive one.
Kuwait already hosts a significant American military footprint, including Camp Buehring, Camp Arifjan, and Ali Al Salem Air Base, all of which have come under direct Iranian missile and drone attack multiple times since the war began, according to Kuwaiti and Iranian state media reporting. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has claimed responsibility for a series of strikes on these facilities in recent days, including attacks it says destroyed fuel tanks, Patriot air defense batteries and radar systems at Ali Al Salem Air Base.
