Iran targets US military site in Gulf for first time in two months as hopes for deal fade

Iran said it targeted a U.S. military installation in Bahrain on Friday morning in retaliation for what it described as a U.S. attack on Iranian territory, marking its first attempt to strike a military installation in a Gulf state in more than two months.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said later on Friday that US forces had shot down two Iranian drones launched towards Bahrain, causing no injuries or damage.

“A few hours ago, the IRGC aerospace forces, in response to the enemy’s aerial aggression against a communications tower in Sirik, targeted and destroyed the early warning radar of the US military aggressor in Bahrain,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, adding that “this is a serious warning” to Washington.

CENTCOM said the claim that Iran attacked a radar system was false.

While the United States has continued to strike Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks, Tehran has largely refrained from attacking American military installations in the Gulf states since early September, focusing instead on disrupting waterway navigation.

Meanwhile, the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, Roman Gofman, was in Washington, D.C., on Friday for a visit that comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has recently sought to push the Trump administration to return to war with Iran. Two Israeli sources say Netanyahu has even considered a unilateral Israeli strike against Iran, although he would still need approval from US President Donald Trump to carry it out.

Gofman was scheduled to meet with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. His visit was first reported by Axios. The prospect of Israel acting alone at Netanyahu’s request after he lost his governing majority is worrying enough that his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, has demanded and received a security briefing from the prime minister.

CNN has contacted the Israeli Embassy in Washington, the White House and the CIA for comment.

The Iranian attack came a day after Trump said the United States no longer needed a deal with Tehran and ordered his vice president to focus elsewhere.

“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days are long gone!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We have their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we have their straits! »

Trump also ordered Vice President JD Vance, charged with leading U.S.-Iran negotiations, to “focus his full attention” on rooting out corruption and crime in Democratic states and cities.

Trump has so far resisted a new offensive and claimed his economic pressure campaign was enough to weaken Tehran. Netanyahu had pushed the United States to carry out new strikes against Iran before the US midterm elections.

Iran has warned it will not accept a stalemate because it is under intense economic pressure due to U.S. sanctions and the naval blockade.

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said Monday that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had ordered his government to “end the state of neither war nor peace,” telling him to “end” the war with the United States.

He said the Islamic Republic “can negotiate with dignity and can end it (the war) with dignity.”

This exchange comes as attacks on shipping in the strategic Strait of Hormuz reach a record level. October saw 37 ship attacks, Lloyd’s List reported Friday, the highest monthly total in the conflict. At least 14 more were confirmed in November, the maritime intelligence group said.

Despite the attacks, oil continued to flow through the waterway, with Middle East exports recovering faster than global oil demand.

The International Energy Agency said Friday that the oil market is “showing tentative signs of rebalancing” and that global oil supply exceeds demand for the first time since the outbreak of war in Iran.

Iran has warned that any further escalation of the war would prompt it to significantly expand its attacks, potentially targeting US interests as far away as Europe.