Explosions rocked Bahrain early Sunday as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had launched a drone attack on a United States military base in the Gulf nation.
The attack came amid renewed hostilities in the Middle East, with Bahrain experiencing fresh Iranian strikes after a lull in attacks.
Sirens sounded across the country, while authorities issued several emergency alerts on social media, urging residents to seek shelter. The warnings were the first since September.
Bahrain, which hosts a major US naval base, has now been targeted twice in three days.
The country’s military said it intercepted several Iranian attacks, preventing them from reaching their intended targets, while the Foreign Ministry confirmed that air defence systems had shot down Iranian drones.
Explosions were heard around 4:00 a.m. (0100 GMT), according to an AFP journalist, while residents reported another series of blasts around 6:30 a.m.
In a post on X, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry urged residents to remain calm, move to the nearest safe location and follow updates through official channels.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their Aerospace Force carried out the attack on a US radar system at a military installation in Bahrain.
“The US air defence radar system at the Al-Riffa helicopter base in Bahrain was targeted by six drones belonging to the IRGC Aerospace Force,” the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian state television and posted on Telegram.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and any aggression by the American enemy will be met with an even harsher and more forceful response,” the statement added.
Iran has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a major global oil transit route, during more than eight months of war, while targeting infrastructure including airports, seaports, energy facilities and US assets across the region.
Bahrain condemns attacks
Bahrain is among the Gulf countries that have faced thousands of Iranian drone and missile strikes since the conflict began on February 28.
In a statement, the country’s Foreign Ministry rejected the use of its territory as a battleground in the conflict and held Iran responsible for the attacks and their consequences.
Bahrain “rejects turning its territory into an arena for settling scores and holds Iran fully responsible for these attacks and their consequences,” the ministry said.
On Friday, the Revolutionary Guards had announced that they targeted a US early-warning radar system in Bahrain, marking the first reported strike against a Gulf country since early September.
The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the region, said it shot down two Iranian drones targeting the Gulf island, adding that the attack caused no casualties or damage.
CENTCOM said last month that it had helped Gulf countries export 1.5 billion barrels of oil since the summer through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the conflict at a trilateral meeting with his Chinese and Russian counterparts in China this week, an official said on Friday.
The planned meeting comes amid mounting political pressure on Trump over the war, with his party’s setbacks in the midterm elections partly attributed to the conflict.
Months of diplomatic efforts have failed to resolve the war, which began with surprise US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
(AFP)
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