Bahrain Reports Intercepting Iranian Attacks After Claim of Strike on US Radar

Bahrain said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks on November 15, as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claimed to have targeted a US military installation in the kingdom. Bahraini forces said the incoming attacks were stopped before reaching their targets.

According to statements carried by Iranian state media, the IRGC said it sent six drones against a US air defense radar system at Bahrain's Al-Riffa helicopter base. Neither US nor Bahraini authorities immediately confirmed that the radar installation had been struck. Bahrain's military accused Tehran of pursuing a continuing hostile campaign against the country.

AFP, citing its journalists in Bahrain, reported explosions at about 4 a.m. local time and a further round of blasts around 6:30 a.m. Air raid sirens sounded, and authorities urged residents to take shelter, without identifying the source of the threat in those warnings. The Interior Ministry advised people to stay calm, move to the nearest safe place and monitor official updates.

Bahrain's Foreign Ministry rejected the use of the country's territory to settle disputes and said Iran bore full responsibility for the attacks and their consequences. The kingdom, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, is among the Gulf states Iran has targeted during the conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.

The latest reported attack followed an IRGC claim two days earlier that it had targeted a US early-warning radar facility in Bahrain. The US military said it intercepted two Iranian drones aimed at the island in that incident, with no casualties or damage reported. The two episodes followed a pause in attacks on Bahrain.

Diplomatic attempts to bring the nearly nine-month conflict to an end have yet to achieve a breakthrough, despite a broader slowdown in fighting. Iran has restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz, an important route for global oil shipments, while carrying out missile and drone attacks against civilian and military infrastructure throughout the region.

Reuters reported that US President Donald Trump told senior advisers in recent days he might hold back from additional strikes on Iran if Tehran and the Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen avoided further provocations. Trump has also said the US naval blockade of Iran would continue.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia's military said on November 15 that it intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh, along with three drones in the country's oil-rich Eastern Province.