Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday it had targeted a US early-warning radar system in Bahrain, in a direct retaliatory strike, as US President Donald Trump ruled out the need for a deal to end the conflict with Tehran and warned that immediate further military action remained on the table.
The retaliation was carried out in response to what it called "enemy air aggression against a telecommunications tower in Sirik", a port city in southern Iran, the IRGC said in a statement published on Telegram by Iran's state broadcaster. "This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to halt aerial provocations and oil smuggling within the Strait of Hormuz," it added.
Neither Manama nor Washington issued immediate confirmation of an attack on Bahraini territory. US bases and assets across the Gulf have repeatedly come under fire during the more than eight-month conflict between the United States and Iran.
In Washington, Trump said on Thursday he had directed Vice-President JD Vance to focus "his complete and total attention" on alleged crime and corruption in Democratic-led cities and states.
Vance, who served as the lead negotiator for a now-defunct temporary truce, has publicly blamed the conflict — and its economic fallout — for heavy Republican losses in the US midterm elections.
"We don't need a deal with Iran," Trump said on social media. "Those days have long since passed. We've got their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, and we've got their Strait!"
When asked in an interview the same day whether he would deploy military force to "stop Iran threatening US allies and maritime traffic", Trump replied, "No hesitation." He further threatened that any future US strike on Iran would pack "five times" the force of earlier assaults.
Yet just hours later, Trump said he had held off on fresh strikes at the request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Gulf states. Earlier in the week, he had described renewed strikes against Iran as "quite unlikely", while stressing Washington would maintain its naval blockade.
Responding to the latest threats, Abolfazl Shekarchi, spokesman for Iran's armed forces, warned that the response to any new attack by the US would be "10 times" more severe.
Though shipping volumes have picked up and hopes for de-escalation have pulled oil prices lower, tankers continue to face hazards transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's military said on Thursday that four oil tankers were hit by explosions inside the waterway, claiming the vessels had ignored warnings and entered what Iran designates as restricted zones.
Spillover impact
Meanwhile, the crisis spillover continued to intensify, with Yemen's Houthi militia claiming on Thursday that it had attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline, an oil facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu and an Aramco building in Riyadh.
The claims have not been independently verified, and Saudi authorities did not immediately comment on the reported attacks.
With the conflict disrupting crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh is diverting around 4 million barrels of crude per day via the East-West Pipeline to Yanbu, equal to roughly 4 percent of global supply.
The Saudi-led military coalition said later on Thursday it had intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the group, one in the Riyadh region and another in the oil-rich Eastern Province.
Agencies and Xinhua contributed to this story.
Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn.
