MANAMA, Bahrain — Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Friday that it attacked and destroyed a U.S. early-warning radar in Bahrain, according to a statement published by Pars Today, but the claim had not been independently verified.
Pars Today, Iran’s state broadcaster, published the Guard public relations office’s statement in full. The document identified the target only as an American radar on Bahrain island.
The strike came early Friday and was carried out by the Guard’s aerospace force, the statement said. It was a reply, it said, to an enemy airstrike on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, in southern Iran. That account was also unverified.
The Guard warned it could take further action if alleged air attacks continued. It also accused the United States of oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz, offering no evidence for the allegation.
The Associated Press reported that Iran’s official IRNA news agency carried the statement. AP said U.S. Central Command and Bahrain’s Ministry of Information had not responded to requests for comment.
Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The announcement marked Iran’s first reported claim since September that it had targeted a facility in Bahrain, according to AP.
Only the announcement itself is confirmed. No independent source had, by early Friday, shown that the radar was hit, or destroyed.