IRGC Says Six Drones Targeted US Air-Defense Radar At Bahrain’s Riffa Base
Bahrain says it intercepted an Iranian drone and urges residents to seek safety, while the US has not yet commented on Sunday’s claim
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Sunday that six drones of its Aerospace Force targeted a US air-defense radar at the Riffa helicopter base in Bahrain, in what it called the “second phase of a decisive and crushing response” to US aggression.
The IRGC statement, carried by Iranian state media and the IRGC-linked Fars news agency, described the strikes as precise and successful and said they were heard across different areas of Bahrain. It did not give evidence of damage.
Bahrain TV reported early Sunday that the country’s air defenses intercepted and destroyed an Iranian drone, and Bahrain’s Interior Ministry urged citizens and residents to stay calm and go to the nearest safe place. It was Bahrain’s first such warning since September, according to reports.
The IRGC statement said
the Strait of Hormuz is closed
and that any further US attack would be met with a harsher response, and that more IRGC drones were deployed against US targets in this phase than in the previous one.
It said US drones are being shot down “one after another,” and on Saturday the IRGC claimed to have destroyed a 17th American MQ-1 over Qeshm Island.
The US has not confirmed any loss, and Central Command said only that it shot down two Iranian drones headed for Bahrain. The statement also accused the United States of failing in what it called an “escort” mission and said the operation was in reality a way to move oil through Hormuz.
The US military says its Navy has escorted more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude through the strait since June.
The first phase came on Friday, when the IRGC said it targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain in response to what it called an attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province, and described it as a “serious warning” to stop aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the strait.
US Central Command said it shot down two one-way attack drones launched toward Bahrain, with no damage or injuries, and made no comment on the allegation about the tower.
Reuters reported that Friday’s claim was the first Iranian claim of an attack on US military assets in a Gulf state since early September. The new claims come as Qatar continues to mediate between Washington and Tehran, and as President Donald Trump has said the US does not need a deal with Iran.