Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it has 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.
The claim came hours after Iran’s state news agency IRNA, citing official sources, reported that the port city of Sirik in Hormozgan province was hit by “enemy fire” on Thursday.
In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC called the strike a “serious warning” to the “aggressor enemy” to stop what it said a series of aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Should these violations and acts of aggression recur, the IRGC Aerospace Force stands in full readiness to engage without limits,” the statement said.
The IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency said the Guard’s aerospace forces had “targeted and destroyed” the radar installation.
There was no immediate comment from Washington or Manama.
Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
According to the Reuters news agency, it is the first time since early September that Iran has claimed an attack on American military assets in a Gulf country.
The claim comes as Israel’s security cabinet has reportedly ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran , according to Israeli media, including the public broadcaster KAN.
Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei has warned that if the US launches another war, every military base involved, anywhere from West Asia to Europe, would be a legitimate target for Iranian strikes.
US President Donald Trump has said he is prepared to return to war if the diplomatic track offered by Qatar fails to deliver a deal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, has said economic pressure on Iran is working well enough that resuming large-scale military operations is unnecessary.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said the Strait of Hormuz would never go back to how it was before the war, and that “the ball is now in the American court ”.
Meanwhile, US Central Command says its forces are still strictly enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
