Iran claims to have destroyed US military radar in Bahrain in retaliation | Iran

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it targeted and destroyed a US early warning radar in Bahrain in response to a US airstrike on a communications tower in Sirik overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. This is Iran’s first direct attack on US military installations in months.

“This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to stop its aerial mischief and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC said. “In the event of repeated violations and aggressions, the IRGC aerospace force is on alert to confront the enemy without constraint.”

Donald Trump said in a series of media interviews over the past 24 hours that he would only attack Iran if necessary, saying Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia had urged him to refrain from any planned large-scale military strikes.

Trump said he had asked Vice President JD Vance to end his interest in negotiating a new deal with Iran and instead focus on corruption and fraud in Democratic-led cities and states.

Vance was seen by the Iranians as the most trusted figure close to Trump, but they had rejected his request for a personal meeting with their negotiators to discuss the terms of a peace deal.

Vance has been at the forefront of Republicans, claiming that the war was the cause of widespread Republican losses in the midterms. Trump said he had been disappointed by the American public because rising diesel prices were a small price to pay to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

An opinion poll in the United Kingdom showed that 65% of the British population would oppose the United States resuming the war in Iran, and only 14% would support it. The poll was carried out by YouGov for the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu).

The study also found that 54% of respondents opposed the US using British bases to launch attacks against Iran, compared to 29% in favor. Support for further UK sanctions on Iran was 45%, with 22% against.

The poll was carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, before two Iranians were convicted on Thursday of spying and planning attacks on journalists in the UK. The Iranian embassy rejected the court ruling, calling it an attempt to advance a political agenda.

Chris Doyle, director of Caabu, said: “The British public is skeptical about any war with Iran and its outcomes. What could make Burnham’s government take note is the very high level of opposition to any further war among 2024 Labor voters, at 79%.”

The Assembly of Iranian Experts, a body of elected Islamic jurists tasked with choosing the supreme leader, has become the first Iranian government institution to call for a review of the country’s defense doctrine, potentially leading to religious authorization for Iran to attempt to acquire a nuclear weapon.

In a statement released Thursday, the assembly called for a review of Iran’s membership in the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, calling the move an “inevitable necessity” and a “public and national demand.”

The intervention has both religious and political significance, as the 88-member assembly includes high-ranking clerics, most of whom are believed to be qualified to exercise independent Islamic legal reasoning.

Iran has long banned nuclear weapons, based on a fatwa issued by the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but the fatwa’s relevance in the wake of U.S. attacks on Iran has been widely questioned in political and security circles.

Whether Iran has stockpiles of uranium or the technology to build a nuclear weapon is disputed.

The UN nuclear inspectorate has expressed concern about Iran’s continued lack of information about its nuclear sites. He said: “Our concerns are growing over Iran’s refusal to allow access to design information or inspections of the Isfahan facility. We do not know the exact location of the Isfahan uranium enrichment facility or whether it contains nuclear material. It is imperative that we conduct our verification activities in Iran without further delay.”