U.S. forces shot down two Iranian drones launched toward Bahrain, and CENTCOM says nobody was hurt and nothing was damaged in the attempted strike. The incident marks the first time in roughly two months that Iran has targeted a U.S. military site in the Gulf, after weeks spent instead harassing commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command confirmed the interception and reported no injuries or damage, according to CNN. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and has long been counted among Iran's most vocal critics in the region, according to Spectrum News, which reported that Bahrain's Ministry of Information did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed it had struck back, saying it targeted and destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar system in Bahrain. CENTCOM said that claim was false. The Guard, in a statement carried by Iran's state news agency, said the radar strike came in response to what it called enemy aerial aggression against a communications tower in Sirik, in southern Iran.
Conflicting Accounts Over What Happened in Sirik
The Guard described the radar strike as a serious warning to the United States to halt its attacks, per CNN's reporting. Iran's state news agency reported that Sirik had been hit by an enemy strike but, according to RFE/RL, it did not name the attacker or provide details about any damage or casualties. RFE/RL also noted that the Guard's statement stopped short of directly blaming the United States for the alleged Sirik attack, leaving a gap between Iran's framing of the incident and who it says was actually responsible.
Iran had largely held off on hitting American military installations in Gulf states since early September, instead concentrating its pressure campaign on disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, per CNN. The last time Iran targeted U.S. bases in neighboring Arab nations, including Bahrain, came amid retaliation for U.S. strikes in February, according to Spectrum News. The broader air war between the two sides dates back to that same month.
A Waterway Under Growing Strain
The renewed strike on Bahrain comes as the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly a quarter of global oil flows, remains a flashpoint. The waterway has been effectively closed since March 2 following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, according to a CSIS analysis, and daily transits remain well below pre-conflict levels, the same analysis found.
October saw 37 vessel attacks in the strait, the highest monthly total of the conflict, with at least 14 more confirmed in November, CNN reported. A separate count cited by Reuters put the November tally at ten ships hit in just the first ten days of the month, following those 37 October attacks. Iran has also warned ships against passing through the strait without its approval, Spectrum News reported, part of a pattern in which Iran has routinely targeted oil tankers there.
Tankers Hit, Mine Claims Unverified
Iran's military said four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz on November 11 and 12, though Reuters said it could not immediately verify Iran's account. Separately, UK Maritime Trade Operations, the British military agency that monitors incidents at sea, reported that a vessel was hit by an unidentified projectile about 14 nautical miles northwest of Ras Al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, causing an engine-room fire. All 22 crew members aboard that Liberia-flagged oil tanker, including 19 Indian nationals, were safely evacuated, according to a separate Yahoo News report.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard also said a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a mine and exploded while attempting to sail through the strait, claiming the vessel had ignored repeated warnings while transiting the eastern Strait of Hormuz. Iran's army separately said two oil tankers caught fire after hitting naval mines in the eastern part of the strait, RFE/RL reported. None of these mine-strike claims have been independently verified, and UK Maritime Trade Operations reported there was no immediate report of the incident on its end, per Spectrum News.
Taken together, the drone interception near Bahrain and the disputed radar and tanker claims underscore how murky the picture around the Strait of Hormuz has become, with Tehran, Washington and independent monitors offering accounts that frequently diverge on key details.
