Iran Drones Target US Base in Bahrain as Hormuz Stand-off Continues
Iran launched a drone attack against a US military base in Bahrain on Sunday, 15 November, according to BBC. Bahrain's military said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed the Iranian air attacks before they could achieve their objectives.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of Iran's armed forces, said it targeted the US air defence radar facility at al-Riffa air base in Bahrain using six drones. Bahrain's interior ministry called on citizens to head to their nearest safe location as sirens sounded across the country on Sunday.
The attack was Iran's second attempt to target Bahrain in three days. On Friday, 13 November, Iran fired drones at Bahrain in what was its first attack against Gulf countries since September. The IRGC claimed it struck a US early warning radar system in Bahrain that day. The US military said the IRGC launched two one-way attack drones towards Bahrain on Friday, and that both were shot down by US forces, with no injuries or damage.
US officials said the US carried out limited defensive strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, in response to what they described as the IRGC firing on a US aircraft. The IRGC said its forces shot down two US MQM-170 drones south of Qeshm Island and a US MQ-9 drone east of the strait.
The strikes and the drone exchanges take place against a longer dispute. The US and Iran are locked in a stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which about a fifth of the world's gas and oil supply usually flows. Shipping through the strait has been restricted since the war broke out in February.
The two countries reached a preliminary agreement in June, an initial deal that was not final, to end the war and reopen the strait. That agreement collapsed within weeks.
