Iran Says It Hit US Radar in Bahrain; CENTCOM Says Drones Downed
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain. US Central Command says it shot down two drones and that nothing was damaged. The exchange is Iran's first claimed strike on US forces in a Gulf state since early September.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Friday, November 13, 2026, that it destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, its first direct attack on US military installations in months. US Central Command (CENTCOM) denied the radar was destroyed and said its forces shot down two Iranian drones headed for Bahrain.
CENTCOM said the drones caused no injuries or damage. Neither side's account could be independently confirmed.
The IRGC said the strike answered a US airstrike on a communications tower in Sirik, a port city in Hormozgan province overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's state news agency IRNA had earlier reported that Sirik was hit by "enemy fire" on Thursday.
"This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to end its aerial mischief and oil smuggling in the strait of Hormuz," the IRGC said. It added that its aerospace force was "on full alert to confront the enemy without constraint" if there were further violations.
Trump weighs next step
US President Donald Trump has said in several interviews over the past 24 hours that he will attack Iran only if necessary. He claimed Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, have urged him to hold back from planned large-scale strikes.
Trump also said he asked Vice President JD Vance to drop his interest in negotiating a new deal with Iran. Iranian officials had rejected Vance's request for a personal meeting with their negotiators.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said economic pressure on Iran is working well enough that resuming large-scale military operations is unnecessary. CENTCOM says it is still strictly enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Israel's security cabinet has ordered the military to step up preparations for a possible attack on Iran, according to Israeli media. Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned that every military base involved in a new US war, from West Asia to Europe, would be a legitimate target.
Pressure inside Iran and abroad
Iran's Assembly of Experts, the body of clerics that chooses the supreme leader, called on Thursday for a review of Iran's membership of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It described the step as an "unavoidable necessity." The statement could open the way to religious permission to seek a nuclear weapon.
A YouGov poll for the Council for Arab-British Understanding found 65% of British adults would oppose the US resuming the war, and 14% would back it. Some 54% oppose US use of UK bases for attacks on Iran, with 29% in favor.
A Pentagon inspector general's report released in September found Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings at US installations in eight countries, including Bahrain, in the first four months of the war. The war began on February 28 with US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
