The IRGC says Bahrain’s radar strike is a response to attacks on an Iranian telecommunications tower in the southern province of Hormozgan.
Published on November 13, 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted a US early warning radar in Bahrain in retaliation for what it described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran.
The claim comes hours after Iran’s official IRNA news agency, citing official sources, reported that the port town of Sirik in Hormozgan province was hit by “enemy fire” on Thursday.
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In a statement published by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC called the strike a “serious warning” to the “aggressive enemy” to put an end to what it sees as a series of aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Should these violations and acts of aggression recur, the IRGC Aerospace Force stands fully ready to engage without limits,” the statement said.
The IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency said the IRGC Aerospace Force had “targeted and destroyed” the radar installation.
There was no immediate comment from Washington or Manama.
Bahrain is home to the headquarters of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
Headquarters Fifth Fleet, located at Naval Support Activities Base Manama, is the primary command center for U.S. naval operations in the Middle East.
It was hit in the early hours of the war on February 28, and satellite images analyzed by Al Jazeera showed direct impacts on several radar domes and damage to buildings on the base.
The United States has reportedly reduced troop levels at its bases in the region and ordered some diplomatic staff to leave, according to media reports, as Trump considers further strikes against Iran.
US Central Command said it “regularly” moves personnel and assets to “optimize mission readiness.”
First attack in Bahrain since September
According to the Reuters news agency, this is the first time since the beginning of September that Iran has claimed responsibility for an attack against American military assets in a Gulf country.
The assertion comes as Israel’s security cabinet ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran, according to Israeli media, including public broadcaster KAN.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has warned that if the United States starts a new war, all military bases involved, from West Asia to Europe, would become a legitimate target for Iranian strikes.
A Pentagon inspector general report released in September found that Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings at U.S. installations in eight countries, including Bahrain, during the first four months of the war.
Analysts say several US bases in the region have become virtually unusable.
US President Donald Trump has declared himself ready to return to war if the diplomatic route proposed by Qatar does not allow an agreement to be reached.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, said economic pressure on Iran was working well enough that there was no need to resume large-scale military operations.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iranian parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz would never return to the way it was before the war and that “the ball is now in the US court.”
Meanwhile, the US Central Command says its forces continue to strictly enforce the naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The war began on February 28 with American and Israeli attacks on Iran.
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