Iran's Revolutionary Guards say six drones targeted a US radar in Bahrain

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed responsibility for a drone strike on an American air defence radar at a military base in Bahrain. The Times of Israel reported that the claim appeared in a statement the Iranian state broadcaster published on its Telegram channel. According to that statement, six drones belonging to the IRGC's Aerospace Force were sent against radar equipment used for American air defence, located at Al-Riffa, which the IRGC described as a helicopter base.

Israeli outlets picked up the announcement within minutes of each other. N12's foreign desk relayed the same details: six unmanned aerial vehicles aimed at a radar belonging to the US air defence network, at a helicopter base it named as Al-Riffa. Ynet's alert carried Iran's framing of the operation as a reply to American actions, without saying which actions Tehran meant. The Jerusalem Post described the drone attack on the US base as triggering a hostile escalation.

Who is claiming the attack

The IRGC is a branch of Iran's armed forces that operates alongside, and separately from, the country's regular military. It answers to Iran's Supreme Leader and has its own ground, naval and air arms. Its Aerospace Force, the unit named in the statement, runs much of Iran's missile and drone arsenal. When the IRGC announces an operation through state media, it is an official claim by the Iranian state, not an anonymous leak.

All four reports describe the same single source: the IRGC statement as carried by Iranian state media. None of the outlets cites a second party, such as the US military or the government of Bahrain, confirming that drones reached the base or that the radar was hit.

Bahrain and the US presence there

Bahrain is a small island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, lying off the coast of Saudi Arabia and across the water from Iran. It hosts American forces, and the IRGC statement presents the radar as US equipment. Al-Riffa, also transliterated Riffa, is the name the IRGC gave for the base it says was targeted.

Bahrain is also one of the Gulf states with diplomatic ties to Israel. A file photograph published by The Jerusalem Post alongside its report shows smoke over the Bahrain Financial Harbour towers in Manama after an Iranian drone was intercepted there on March 6, 2026. The paper's caption notes that the towers house the Israeli embassy and places that earlier incident within the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. That image documents a previous event, not the one claimed this week.

A busy morning across the region

The claim arrived amid other regional security news. In the same live coverage, The Times of Israel reported that the Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement in Yemen, toward the Saudi capital Riyadh. The same live coverage noted that Hamas confirmed the death of Samir Abu Younis, whom it named as commander of its Rafah Brigade, in an Israeli strike overnight. The reports do not link those events to the Bahrain claim.

How the reports differ

The outlets agree on the core of the IRGC's account but differ in emphasis. The Times of Israel and N12 both give the specific detail of six drones and an air defence radar. Ynet's brief alert speaks more generally of an attack on a base and highlights Iran's stated motive. The Jerusalem Post's headline refers to a US base and frames the event as an escalation; that characterisation is the paper's own and does not come from the IRGC statement as quoted elsewhere.

What the reports do not say

• Whether any of the drones reached the base, were intercepted, or caused damage or casualties. Only the IRGC's description of its own operation has been reported.
• Any response from the US military, the US government or the government of Bahrain.
• Which American actions Iran says it was responding to.
• When the drones were launched, and from where.