Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Friday that it targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, in what would be the first claimed attack on American military assets in a Gulf country since early September.
The claim, carried by Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency and state media, said the strike was retaliation for what Tehran described as an "enemy" air attack on a telecommunications tower in the southern Iranian port city of Sirik, in Hormozgan province, on Thursday. Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that Sirik, home to an IRGC naval base near the Strait of Hormuz, had been hit by "enemy fire" without identifying the attacker.
The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency said the radar installation had been "targeted and destroyed" and described the operation as a "serious warning" to stop what it called aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz. Neither the United States nor Bahrain had commented on the claim at the time of publication, and the strike has not been independently confirmed.
Bahrain is home to the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, making any attack on American assets there a significant escalation in a conflict that has already spread across the region. The war began in late February with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Iranian forces have since launched missile and drone attacks on US bases in Gulf states while seeking to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil and gas supplies.
The claim came just hours after President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States no longer needed a deal with Iran and pulled Vice President JD Vance off diplomatic efforts to end the war, redirecting him to focus on alleged fraud in Democrat-run cities and states. Trump also said Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had asked him to hold off on further large-scale strikes against Iran.
Oil markets reacted quickly to the latest developments, with Brent crude briefly touching $96 a barrel after Trump's remarks, underlining how fragile the lull in fighting remains. The IRGC warned that its Aerospace Force stood ready to act again "without limits" if what it called violations and acts of aggression recurred.
For now, the key question is whether Washington confirms or denies the strike — and whether the episode marks a new round of escalation or a one-off warning shot in a war that neither side has managed to bring to an end.
Sources: Reuters, Al Jazeera, The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post.
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