Tehran / Tel Aviv / Gulf Capitals — The Middle East has lurched into its most dangerous phase yet after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it has bombarded a record 27 American bases and Israeli military sites in a single night, with secondary explosions and fires reported in Dubai, Doha and Bahrain.

According to IRGC statements, salvos of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and armed drones were launched from Iranian territory and proxy-held zones in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, targeting U.S. command hubs, airfields and logistics depots, as well as Israeli airbases and radar sites. State TV broadcast triumphant footage of launches, calling it “the great night of reckoning” for the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In Israel, sirens wailed from the Negev to the Galilee as air defenses lit up the sky. The IDF reports “dozens” of interceptions but admits several military installations suffered “non-trivial damage,” with runways cratered and fuel depots burning.

Across the Gulf, the illusion of safety shattered. In Dubai and Doha, residents filmed fireballs on the outskirts near industrial zones and facilities used by Western militaries; in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, blasts near coastal infrastructure rattled Manama’s glass towers. Authorities in all three cities are urging calm while quietly declaring mass-casualty protocols in hospitals.

Washington and Tel Aviv have vowed a “crushing joint response,” even as diplomats scramble to prevent the conflict from detonating into a region-wide inferno. With 27 sites reportedly hit in a single night and three of the Gulf’s richest cities touched by fire, the war is no longer at the edges of the map — it is at the heart of the global system that depends on this region staying quiet.