Iran says it targets US radar in Bahrain with drones

Iran said it launched six drones at a US air defence radar facility in Bahrain on Sunday, its second claimed attack on the site in three days. Bahrain’s military said its air defences intercepted Iranian aerial attacks before they could achieve their objectives. The US military has not commented on Sunday’s claim.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted the radar at Bahrain’s al-Riffa air base in response to what it called hostile US actions. Sirens sounded across Bahrain, and the Interior Ministry urged residents to “remain calm” and go to the nearest safe location. According to Al Jazeera, the ministry issued two alerts about three hours apart, beginning around 4:30 a.m. local time, but gave no details about the threat.

“The Kingdom of Bahrain condemns in the strongest terms the continued brutal Iranian attacks on its territory and holds Iran fully responsible for their consequences,” Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry said.

The competing accounts follow a similar claim on Friday. The IRGC said it had destroyed a US early-warning radar system in Bahrain in retaliation for what it described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran. US Central Command denied the radar had been hit. It said US forces shot down two Iranian drones and reported no injuries or damage. Reuters reported that Friday was the first time since early September that Iran had claimed an attack on US military assets in a Gulf country.

The incidents come amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC said Sunday that the waterway remained closed, claimed US efforts to escort ships through it had failed and warned that any US attack would draw a stronger response. About a fifth of the world’s gas and oil supply usually passes through the strait, the BBC reported, but shipping has been restricted since the war began in February.

On Saturday, the IRGC’s navy said two oil tankers struck sea mines while trying to cross the strait. It said they had turned off their navigation and tracking systems and taken what it called an “unauthorised” route. Two other tankers turned back after receiving Iranian warnings, the IRGC said. Al Jazeera reported that Iran claims control of the strait, a position the United States rejects.

Diplomatic efforts to end the war and reopen the waterway remain stalled. Iran’s parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told Al Jazeera that Tehran had sent seven conditions for a deal through a Qatari mediator and was awaiting an official US response. He said they included lifting the US naval blockade and sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian funds, ending hostilities on all fronts and formally declaring the war over.

The BBC reported that a preliminary US-Iran agreement reached in June collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and Washington reinstated its blockade of Iranian ports. It also reported that President Donald Trump said this week the United States was no longer interested in a deal. According to Al Jazeera, his administration has tightened sanctions and maintained the blockade.