Iran targets US military base in Bahrain with drone attack

Iran launched a drone attack against a US military base in Bahrain on Sunday, its second attempt to target the country in three days.

The country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted the US air defence radar facility at al-Riffa air base in Bahrain using six drones.

Bahrain's military said its air defence systems intercepted and destroyed the Iranian air attacks "before they could achieve their objectives".

It comes after Iran fired drones at Bahrain on Friday, its first attack against Gulf countries since September.

The US and Iran are locked in a stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz. About a fifth of the world's gas and oil supply usually flows through it but shipping has been restricted since the outbreak of war in February.

Iran insists that it should control the strait and has been attacking what it calls "unauthorised" traffic, while the US military is providing protection for tankers shuttling oil through the strait to keep exports flowing from Gulf Arab states.

As sirens sounded across Bahrain on Sunday the interior ministry called on citizens to head to their nearest safe location.

Bahrain's foreign ministry said: "The Kingdom of Bahrain condemns in the strongest terms the continued brutal Iranian attacks on its territory and holds Iran fully responsible for their consequences."

In a statement on the strikes shared by Iran's state broadcaster on Telegram, the IRGC said: "The Strait of Hormuz is closed, and any aggression by the American enemy will be met with an even harsher and more forceful response."

Earlier this week, the IRGC claimed that it struck a US early warning radar system in Bahrain on Friday.

The US military has denied the claim, stating that the IRGC launched two one-way attack drones towards Bahrain and both were shot down by US forces. It added that there were no injuries or damage.

Earlier in the week the US carried out strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, US officials told CBS, the BBC's US partner.

The officials described the strikes as limited and defensive, and said they were in response to the IRGC firing on a US aircraft.

Iranian state news agency Irna reported explosions on Qeshm on Monday. The IRGC did not comment but said its forces had shot down two US MQM-170 drones south of the island and a US MQ-9 drone east of the Strait.

The US and Iran reached a preliminary agreement to end the war and reopen the strait in June, but it collapsed within weeks after Iranian attacks on shipping resumed and the US reinstated a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian negotiators had been discussing with mediators a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the US meets seven conditions, reportedly including the lifting of the naval blockade and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

However this week Donald Trump said that the US was no longer interested in a deal to end the war with Iran and ordered Vice-President JD Vance, who had been involved in efforts to restart negotiations, to focus on domestic US politics.