On Sunday, the U.S. Central Command issued a safety warning to Iranian civilians, accusing the regime of launching military operations from densely populated areas, putting the lives of its own civilians at risk, and urging civilians to stay at home for safety.
The U.S. Central Command stated in a released statement on Sunday: “The Iranian regime is conducting military operations from densely populated civilian areas, including launching one-way attack drones and ballistic missiles. This dangerous decision puts the lives of all Iranian civilians at risk because under international law, locations used for military purposes lose their protected status and may become legitimate military targets.”
The statement mentioned that the Iranian military is using densely populated areas in some cities to launch attacks with drones and ballistic missiles, such as Dezful, Esfahan, and Shiraz.
“The U.S. military strongly urges Iranian civilians to stay at home,” the statement continued, “The Iranian regime is intentionally endangering innocent lives. Furthermore, the Iranian military is also intentionally and indiscriminately targeting civilian airports, hotels, and residential areas, thus endangering the safety of innocent people in the entire Middle East region.”
Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Navy Admiral Brad Cooper, stated in the announcement: “The Iranian terrorist regime blatantly disregards civilian lives, attacks Gulf region partners, and also undermines the security of its own people.”
The statement pointed out that since February 28, Iran has launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and thousands of one-way attack drones. However, with the significant weakening of Iran’s military capabilities by the United States and its allies, the launch rate of these weapons has significantly decreased.
“The U.S. military takes all feasible precautionary measures to minimize harm to civilians, but cannot guarantee the safety of civilians inside or near facilities used by the Iranian regime for military purposes,” warned the U.S. Central Command, and continued to state, “Unlike the Iranian regime, the U.S. military does not target civilians nor intentionally put civilian safety at risk.”
Following continued strikes by the U.S.-led coalition, the Iranian military retaliated by using drones, missiles, and bombers to indiscriminately attack hotels, ports, airports, and residential buildings in Gulf countries, disrupting the normal lives of Gulf nations and angering leaders of various countries. UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan even issued a strong warning on Sunday, stating that “the UAE’s hand can reach far” and unusually referring to Iran as “the enemy of the UAE.”
The UAE Ministry of Defense also released footage on Sunday of its air defense forces intercepting and destroying Iranian drones, and announced the detection of 17 ballistic missiles, of which 16 were destroyed and one fell into the sea. In addition, the country’s air defense forces also identified 117 drones, intercepted 113 of them, while the remaining 4 crashed inside the country.