On 15 November, Iran said it had attacked the Riffa helicopter base in Bahrain with six drones. It was Iran’s first strike on a Gulf country in the past few weeks. Bahrain’s military, meanwhile, reported intercepting several aerial attacks and destroying the launched targets.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported this, citing a statement by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Bahrain’s military.
In Tehran, the attack was described as a response to “blatant aggression by US forces”. The IRGC said it had successfully hit the facility. Bahrain, meanwhile, reported destroying Iranian aerial targets.
This is Iran’s first attack on Bahrain since early September. At that time, Iranian drones also attacked a US military base in the United Arab Emirates.
Tensions in the region remain high, in particular because of the situation with shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time, US President Donald Trump said that he is considering refraining from new strikes on Iran if Tehran does not engage in further provocations.
Against the backdrop of the new attack, Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the possibility of ending the conflict, now in its ninth month, remains open. He said the US must accept Tehran’s “logical conditions” for that to happen.
Ghalibaf also warned that if US strikes resume, Iran’s armed forces will themselves “determine the geography of the fighting”.
US authorities have so far not officially commented on reports of Iran’s strike on the air base in Bahrain.
- Iran has between 1,500 and 2,500 missiles that it could use to strike US targets and facilities belonging to US allies if the war resumes.