Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims strike on US radar in Bahrain, unconfirmed by Washington

The claim and the trigger it cites

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says its aerospace force targeted and destroyed an early-warning radar belonging to the US military on Bahrain, a small island state in the Gulf. The Guard presented the strike as a reply to an earlier air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, a port city in Hormozgan province in southern Iran. Iranian official sources told the state news agency IRNA that Sirik was hit by 'enemy fire' on Thursday, 12 November. Deutsche Welle reports the operation took place in the early hours of Friday, 13 November, and the statement gave no detail on where the radar stood or how badly it was damaged. The statement also warned about future incidents, saying:

“Should these violations and acts of aggression recur, the IRGC Aerospace Force stands in full readiness to engage without limits.”

Silence from Washington and Manama

Neither the United States nor Bahrain has confirmed the attack. US Central Command has not commented on the scope of the strike, any casualties or any damage to American infrastructure. The island is home to the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, which makes its installations a recurring focus of the conflict. AFP reporting carried by Agerpres says bases and equipment in Bahrain have been targeted repeatedly during the war, which began in late February. No independent verification of the radar strike has been published so far.

Hormuz, the blockade and the war behind the strike

The war began on 28 February with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and Tehran responded by restricting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carried about a fifth of the world's oil and gas before the fighting. Washington imposed a blockade on Iranian ports at the start of the war and, in August, announced a campaign it described as economic strangulation of Iran. In October CENTCOM said it had helped Gulf states export 1.5 billion barrels of oil through Hormuz since the summer, and warships now escort tankers along the route. Tehran says it now controls the strait, while Washington rejects that claim. Citing The New York Times, Deutsche Welle reports that Iranian ballistic missiles, including the Jorramshahr, Seyil and Qadr types, caused serious damage at some US bases.

Threats, talks and a stalled war

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, threatened on Thursday, 12 November, to strike US bases in Europe if they were used to attack Tehran. Al Jazeera adds that, should the US start another war, Rezaei regards every participating base between West Asia and Europe as a valid strike target. Donald Trump has said he is prepared to return to war if Qatar's diplomatic track does not produce a deal, while Marco Rubio argues economic pressure is working well enough to make large-scale operations unnecessary. Israeli media, including the public broadcaster KAN, reported that the security cabinet had told the military to intensify preparations for a possible attack on Iran. In an exclusive Al Jazeera interview on Wednesday, 11 November, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and lead negotiator, said the Strait of Hormuz will not return to its pre-war state. Deutsche Welle describes the conflict as deadlocked, with no major military operations and no progress in peace talks.

What remains unclear

No source confirms that the radar was hit, what function it served or whether anyone was hurt. The Iranian account rests on the Guard's own statement and on reports citing Iranian official sources, and Washington has not described the earlier attack on Sirik. Israeli preparations and Iran's threats against bases in Europe show how far the escalation could extend, though no source says a strike is scheduled. Neither CENTCOM nor Bahrain has commented yet.