Iran claims strike on US radar site in Bahrain

US Central Command denied Iran's claim to have destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, saying the Revolutionary Guard launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain and US forces shot both down, with no casualties and no destruction.

Why it matters: Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, and the exchange puts the two sides' accounts in direct conflict: Tehran claims a radar destroyed in its first claimed attack on US assets in a Gulf country since early September, Washington says both drones were intercepted, and no independent damage assessment has been reported.

Data as of Al Jazeera report of November 13, 2026, read in full via the estate browser route. The strike claim rests solely on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency and the IRGC affiliated Fars agency, with Iran's state agency IRNA reporting enemy fire at Sirik in Hormozgan province; no independent confirmation, damage assessment or US or Bahraini response is reported, so the claim is carried as Iran's own account at grade C. Developing item. Updated November 13, 2026, with US Central Command's statement on its X page as reported the same day by the Guardian and by TASS, in Russian, both read in full via the estate browser route: CENTCOM denied the radar was destroyed and said two IRGC attack drones launched toward Bahrain were both shot down, with no casualties and no destruction. The Arab News carrying of the CENTCOM item could not be read (its page returned not found), so the Guardian and TASS were used as the second route. Both sides' accounts remain their own and no independent damage assessment has been reported, so the item stays at grade C.

Latest. Washington has answered Tehran’s claim. US Central Command denied that the radar was destroyed and said the Revolutionary Guard launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain, both of which US forces shot down, with no casualties and no destruction, in a statement on its X page reported on Friday by the Guardian and by TASS. That contradicts the Guard’s account of a successful strike, and no independent assessment of damage in Bahrain has been reported.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted a United States early-warning radar in Bahrain, in retaliation for what it described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran, Al Jazeera reported, citing an IRGC statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. The IRGC affiliated Fars news agency said the radar installation was destroyed, and the IRGC called the strike a serious warning against what it said were aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz, warning that its Aerospace Force was ready to engage without limits if they recur. There was no immediate comment from Washington or Manama and no independent confirmation of a strike or of damage; Reuters noted it was the first time since early September that Iran has claimed an attack on US military assets in a Gulf country, and Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

Iran claims strike on US radar site in Bahrain

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