Iran's IRGC claims strike on US early-warning radar in Bahrain

On November 13, 2026, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed it destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar in Bahrain, marking its first claimed attack on Gulf-based U.S. military assets since September. The Guard framed the strike as direct retaliation for a U.S. attack on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran. Neither the U.S. nor Bahrain has confirmed the strike, which comes amidst ongoing naval tension, mine explosions, and blockades in the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Reported Iranian strike on US radar in Bahrain

• ▪Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force stated on November 13, 2026, that it targeted and destroyed a U.S. military early-warning radar system in Bahrain
• ▪The Revolutionary Guard described the November 13, 2026 strike in Bahrain as the first claimed Iranian attack on U.S. military assets in a Gulf country since early September 2026

IRGC motives for the radar strike

• ▪The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that the Bahrain strike was launched in retaliation for an enemy air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, Hormozgan province
• ▪The Revolutionary Guard stated that its November 13, 2026 radar attack served as a warning for the U.S. to cease aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz

Escalation in the Strait of Hormuz

• ▪The U.S. military conducted air strikes on Qeshm island and southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, describing them as defensive measures against maritime traffic threats
• ▪Maritime attacks in the Strait of Hormuz spiked to nearly three dozen tankers hit in October 2026, with UKMTO reporting at least six vessels attacked in early November 2026
• ▪The Revolutionary Guard reported that a liquefied petroleum gas tanker struck a mine and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring warnings on November 13, 2026

Broader timeline of the US-Iran war

• ▪A September 2026 Pentagon inspector general report stated that Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings across U.S. military installations in eight countries
• ▪The conflict began on February 28, 2026, following joint U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, leading to widespread Iranian drone and missile strikes on U.S. regional bases
• ▪Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet headquarters at Naval Support Activity base in Manama, which was hit during the initial opening hours of the war on February 28, 2026