U.S. Navy ships transit the Strait of Hormuz. Photo: Alex R. Forster / U.S. Navy (Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday that it destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar system in Bahrain, the first Iranian claim of an attack on American military assets in a Gulf state since September — but the U.S. military denied the claim within hours, saying it shot down two Iranian attack drones headed for the island kingdom.
The competing claims, neither of which could be independently verified, mark the latest escalation in the eight-month war between the United States and Iran, a conflict that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and has since spread across the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the wider region.
What Iran claims happened
Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted a statement from the Guard saying its aerospace force fighters "targeted and destroyed the US aggressors' early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain." The Guard said the strike was retaliation for what it described as an American air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, a port in Iran's southern Hormozgan province on the Strait of Hormuz.
The statement called the attack "a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to stop its aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz."
It was Iran's first report of targeting a facility in Bahrain since September, according to the Associated Press. Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, making the island kingdom one of the most sensitive American military positions in the Gulf.
Washington's response
Several hours later, the U.S. military's Central Command denied that any radar had been destroyed. CENTCOM said its forces intercepted two "one-way attack drones" launched at Bahrain by the Revolutionary Guard, and reported no casualties or damage.
Neither the U.S. nor Bahrain had commented immediately after the Guard's claim, and there was no independent confirmation of a strike on the island.
A tanker, a mine and a fragile lull
The Guard also said on Friday that a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, causing an explosion, while trying to sail through what Tehran calls an unauthorized and dangerous route. That claim also could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate report of the incident from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency, which monitors shipping incidents in the region.
The claims came a day after Iran said four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the strait, and two days after President Donald Trump said the United States does not need a deal with Iran, writing on Truth Social that "those days have long since passed." On Thursday, Trump also said he would consider it a defeat if the Iranian regime remains in power when his term ends in two years, and warned that the U.S. could resume its military offensive if he deems it necessary.
Earlier in the week, Trump paused a U.S. operation to escort stranded ships through the strait, saying Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had asked him to hold off on new strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli air and naval campaign that began in February, had concluded because its objectives had been achieved — but the naval blockade of Iranian ports remains in place.
Shipping through the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil, has been heavily disrupted. At least 10 ships were hit in the first 10 days of November, after 37 attacks in October — the highest monthly tally since the conflict began, according to data from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy cited by Reuters.
Why this matters
Friday's claims underline how fragile the current lull has become. With diplomacy stalled, the strait effectively blockaded and both sides trading strikes and counter-claims, every new incident raises the risk of a wider confrontation — one that Gulf states have been urging Washington to avoid. Iran's military chief, Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, warned on Friday that any miscalculation by the U.S. and Israel would be met with "devastating strikes."
For now, the facts on the ground remain contested: Iran says it destroyed an American radar; the United States says its forces shot down the drones sent to attack it. What is not in doubt is that the Gulf's most dangerous standoff in months is still escalating.
Sources: Reuters, The Associated Press, Al Arabiya.