Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had targeted and destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, the first claim of an attack on American military assets in a Gulf country since early September.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its aerospace force carried out the strike in retaliation for what it described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, a coastal county in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province on the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media.
“In response to the enemy’s aerial aggression against a telecommunications tower in Sirik, IRGC Aerospace Force fighters targeted and destroyed the American aggressors’ early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain a few hours ago,” the Guards said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency. The Guards called the operation a serious warning against further aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz.
The claim rests entirely on the Guards’ own statement as reported by Iranian state media. The Guards gave no details of the weapons used, and neither the damage to the radar installation nor any casualties could be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the United States or Bahrain.
Bahrain hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and its radar sites have been hit before: Iranian forces destroyed the enclosures protecting US radar systems at Naval Support Activity Bahrain in the first days of the war that began in late February. The claim is the first of its kind since early September, after a fragile lull in a conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February and has since spread across the region.
The claim also comes a day after four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran said had ignored warnings and entered restricted areas of the waterway. Iran has sought to restrict shipping through the strait, a vital route for global oil and gas supplies, while Washington has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Whether the radar claim marks a new escalation or a piece of wartime signalling will depend on what Washington and Manama say — and on whether any evidence of damage emerges. For now, the only confirmed fact is that the Guards made the claim.
Sources: Reuters — “Iran’s Guards say they targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain” (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/irans-guards-say-they-targeted-us-early-warning-radar-bahrain-2026-11-13/) — and the IRGC statement as reported by the Fars news agency.
