IranBack to the Gulf: the IRGC Claims a Strike on a US Radar in Bahrain, CENTCOM Says Both Drones Were Shot Down, and the IAEA Says It Cannot Rule Out Diversion
Day 259 in one line: for the first time since early September Iran said it had attacked a US military target in a Gulf state — and the United States said the attack failed.
Bahrain: Claim and Denial
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Friday that they had targeted a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, "in response to the enemy’s air aggression against a telecommunications tower in Sirik." The state news agency IRNA had reported that Sirik, in Hormozgan province, was hit overnight by an "enemy" strike; it named no attacker and gave no damage or casualty details, and RFE/RL noted that the Guards stopped short of directly blaming the United States. CENTCOM denied the radar claim: "The IRGC launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain and both were shot down by US forces. There were no injuries or damage." Its statement made no reference to Sirik. CBS News, which described the Sirik incident as a US strike, said the Iranian claim could not be independently verified. The Times of Israel called it the first such Iranian claim against US military assets in a Gulf country since early September.
Hormuz: A Gas Carrier and Two More Tankers
The IRGC Navy said a tanker carrying liquefied gas struck a naval mine and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz after using what it called an "unauthorized passageway." On Friday night it said two oil tankers, one of them a supertanker, exploded and caught fire after hitting mines while crossing by an "unauthorized" route with their radar and navigation systems switched off, and warned that ships crossing without coordinating with its traffic-control centre would face "the same fate." Reuters said none of the IRGC’s claims had been independently verified. CBS’s log also records Iranian claims for November 12 — two supertankers on fire on a prohibited route and, per Iran’s army, two more tankers mined east of the strait — and notes that the US military says it has cleared mines from the strait.
IAEA: "Not Able to Conclude"
A confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report said the agency "is not able to conclude that there has been no diversion" of Iran’s declared nuclear material, and that it was "increasingly concerned" about the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, which Iran declared in June 2025 and inspectors have never visited. Inspectors have not been allowed back to the sites bombed in June 2025, where the agency estimated before those strikes that Iran held about 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent. According to the report, Iran says monitoring talks cannot resume amid "a series of persistent, explicit, and public threats" by the US president.
Washington and Jerusalem
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has moved from his home to a military base on Secret Service instructions after Iranian threats, told CNBC that the Guards were "like a dangerous, cornered animal" and that the economic campaign begun in August was working: "We are squeezing the regime." Iran has denied plotting against US officials. Axios reported that Mossad director Roman Gofman was in Washington to meet CIA Director John Ratcliffe and was expected to see envoy Steve Witkoff in Miami. Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the military chief, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, "remains alone" among senior officials in opposing an immediate resumption of the war on Iran.
Elsewhere
Turkey and Qatar signed a mutual defence agreement; President Erdogan said the two would work "to prevent the resurgence of war in the Gulf region." The Houthis said they fired two ballistic missiles at Saudi forces in Jazan and claimed attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid airport and an East-West Pipeline pumping station; there was no immediate Saudi confirmation. The Lebanese army said it raided a weapons depot in Beirut’s southern suburbs. The US Air Force said it responded to suspected unauthorized drone activity over RAF Lakenheath in England, with nothing affected. In an article for Japan’s Kyodo News, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the US and Israeli attacks a "clear violation" of the ban on the use of force.
Status Assessment
Tracker status holds at WAR RESUMED. The day broke a pattern: Iran publicly claimed an attack on a US military target in a Gulf state for the first time since early September, tied to a strike on its own soil that no one has claimed. Washington says the drones were shot down and has not said whether it struck Sirik. The strait remains closed, the blockade remains, and no ceasefire or agreement is in force.