Iran Launches Drone Attack on US Military Base in Bahrain
Iran launched drones on Sunday at a US military base in Bahrain, the small island state in the Arabian Gulf that hosts significant American military facilities. Bahraini authorities said that air defences intercepted the drones before they reached their targets. Sirens sounded and alerts urged residents to seek shelter.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the country's ideological military force, said it launched six drones at a US air defence radar at the Al-Rifaa helicopter base. It described the attack as retaliation for "hostile US actions."
The Sunday attack was the second Iranian drone attack in three days. On Friday, Iran launched drones against a US radar facility in Bahrain, the first such attacks there since September. US Central Command, the American military headquarters responsible for the Middle East region and led by Adm. Brad Cooper, said it shot down two drones in Friday's attack. No one was injured and no damage was reported.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei, said Iran would continue to respond to any military aggression by the United States or other states. The attacks follow US strikes on Iranian targets in recent weeks, including on Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, a narrow waterway that carries oil out of the Gulf, has also been the scene of competing claims about mines. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two ships had hit mines there and that one of them, an oil supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil, sank. The US military had recently said it cleared all mines from the main routes through the strait.
Bahrain hosts major US installations, including the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and US Naval Forces Central Command. In July, US Central Command led a regional security dialogue hosted by the Bahrain Defense Force, the country's military, with senior military officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
