Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it targeted a US radar in Bahrain

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it went after an American early-warning radar in Bahrain, presenting the move as retaliation for an air attack on a telecommunications tower inside Iran. The Times of Israel reported the claim, citing Iranian state media, and said the Guard placed the tower in Sirik, in Iran, and blamed the strike on it on what the Guard termed the enemy.

The Israeli news site Ynet carried the development as a brief alert in Hebrew. Ynet's alert said Iran had attacked in Bahrain and, quoting the Iranian side, identified the target as an American radar system. Neither report gave details of the weapons used, the time of the attack or the outcome.

Who is making the claim

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, often shortened to IRGC, is a branch of Iran's armed forces that sits alongside the regular military. It answers to the country's supreme leader and runs Iran's missile and drone forces, which is why statements about cross-border attacks frequently come from the Guard rather than from the regular army or the government.

The account of events so far comes from Iranian state media relaying the Guard's position. It is a statement of what the Guard says it did and why, not an independent description of what happened on the ground in Bahrain or in Sirik.

Bahrain and the American presence

Bahrain is a small island kingdom in the Persian Gulf, lying off the coast of Saudi Arabia and across the water from Iran. It is a close security partner of the United States and hosts a significant American naval presence, which makes US facilities there a recurring point of reference whenever Tehran threatens or claims action against American forces in the region.

An early-warning radar is designed to detect incoming aircraft and missiles at long range, giving air-defence systems time to respond. A facility of that kind would be relevant to tracking launches from Iran, which helps explain why the Guard chose to single it out in its statement.

The tower in Sirik

Sirik is a town in southern Iran on the coast facing the Gulf of Oman. According to the Guard's account as relayed by state media, a telecommunications tower there was hit in what it called an enemy air attack. The reports do not say who the Guard holds responsible, beyond that phrase, and no other party is quoted confirming or denying an attack on the tower.

How the two reports differ

The two Israeli outlets frame the event slightly differently. Ynet's alert describes Iran as having attacked in Bahrain, presenting the attack as something that took place. The Times of Israel reports that the Guard says it targeted the radar, framing it as a claim attributed to Iranian state media. Neither report says the radar was hit or damaged, and neither offers confirmation from Bahrain or the United States that any attack reached Bahraini territory.

The Times of Israel item appeared within a live blog that also carried unrelated Israeli security updates, including a false alarm from sirens near the Gaza border, and it did not link those to the Bahrain claim.

What the reports do not say

• Whether any weapon actually struck the radar, and whether there were casualties or damage.
• Any response from the United States, Bahrain or Israel to the Guard's statement.
• Who, if anyone, carried out the attack on the telecommunications tower in Sirik, and whether that attack has been confirmed by a source other than Iran.
• What kind of weapon the Guard says it used.