Iran's IRGC launched Wave 96 of Operation True Promise 4 overnight, striking energy and petrochemical infrastructure across the Gulf and in southern Israel. [1] The strikes targeted five military-economic sites, including Kuwait's Shuaiba petrochemical facility — described by Iranian media as "a partner of the US armed forces." [2]

A massive fire was reported at the Shuaiba complex following the strike. [3] Iranian missiles also hit a key industrial area in southern Israel, according to the Palestine Chronicle. [4]

Wave 96 is part of an escalating pattern of retaliatory strikes that has continued without interruption since the war began. Each wave targets energy, petrochemical and military-economic infrastructure — the economic backbone of the US and Israeli presence in the region. The IRGC's targeting has grown more precise and more ambitious with each wave.

The strikes come as Trump issued a new April 7 deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. [5] Wave 96 is Iran's answer: not diplomacy, not de-escalation, but escalation. The message is that Iran's capacity to strike is not diminishing — it is growing.

US and Israeli air defenses intercepted some of the incoming missiles and drones, but the volume of the attack — described as "extensive" by Iranian state media — suggests that interception rates are not the same as neutralization. [6] What gets through matters more than what gets stopped.

The war is now in its 38th day. The ceasefire deadline is 22 days away. And the waves keep coming.

-- YOSEF STERN, Jerusalem