Iran Announces Targeting of US Radar in Bahrain as CENTCOM Confirms Downing of Two Drones

Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced at dawn on Friday that it had targeted an American military facility in Bahrain, in the first attempt of its kind to strike a military site in a Gulf state in more than two months, while the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had downed two Iranian drones launched toward Bahrain, with no injuries or damage.

The semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the Revolutionary Guard as saying that the Aerospace Force, in response to the enemy's aerial aggression against a communications tower in Sirik, "targeted and destroyed the early warning radar of the aggressive American military personnel in Bahrain," adding that "this is a serious warning" to Washington. CENTCOM responded that the claim of targeting a radar system was "incorrect."

In recent weeks the United States has continued to strike Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran has largely refrained from attacking American military facilities in the Gulf states since early September, directing its efforts instead toward disrupting navigation in the waterway.

In Washington, Mossad director Roman Goffman was present on Friday, on a visit that comes amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's push to get the Trump administration to return to war with Iran. Two Israeli sources said Netanyahu had even discussed a unilateral Israeli strike, but that he still needs the approval of US President Donald Trump to carry it out. Goffman was expected to meet CIA director John Ratcliffe, according to a source familiar with the matter, while Axios first reported the visit. His main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, demanded a security briefing from the prime minister and obtained one.

Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social: "We don't need an agreement with Iran. Those days are long gone!", adding "We took their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we took their strait!", and Vice President JD Vance, who had been tasked with leading the negotiations between Washington and Tehran, was directed to give his "full and complete attention" to eradicating corruption and crime in Democratic states and cities.

On the Iranian side, President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had instructed his government to "end the state of neither war nor peace," and ordered him to "end" the war with the United States, adding that the Islamic Republic "can negotiate with dignity, and end it (the war) with dignity."

October recorded 37 attacks on ships, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence on Friday, the highest monthly total in the conflict, while at least 14 other attacks were confirmed in November. Despite that, oil continued to flow through the waterway. The International Energy Agency said on Friday that the oil market "is showing early signs of rebalancing," and that global supply exceeds demand for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war.

Iran has warned that any new escalation will push it to greatly expand its attacks, which may reach American interests as far as Europe.