Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they targeted a United States early-warning radar in Bahrain, the first such claim of an attack on American military assets in a Gulf country since early September. Reuters reported the claim, which was carried by Iranian state media.

The Guards said the strike was retaliation for what they described as an air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik county, in Hormozgan province on Iran's southern coast. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency had reported late on Thursday that Sirik had been hit in what it described as an enemy attack. The Guards' statement, quoted by IRNA, said the radar had been destroyed and described the attack as a serious warning to the United States to stop its strikes, the Glasgow Times reported.

Neither the United States nor Bahrain had commented immediately, and the claim could not be independently verified. No details of any damage or casualties at the radar site were given, and no location for the radar was named. Bahrain is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet and has been one of Iran's strongest critics in the Gulf.

A fragile lull under strain

The claim came during a fragile lull in the conflict between Iran and the United States, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February and has since spread across the region. Iran responded by launching missile and drone attacks on US bases in Gulf states and by seeking to restrict shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the vital route for global oil and gas supplies. Washington, in turn, imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that a deal with Iran was "not necessary" to end the war, indicating that Washington would stick with the blockade and sanctions rather than return to large-scale fighting. The Guards' claim, if confirmed, would be the first Iranian strike on US assets in a Gulf host country for more than two months.

The same Guards statement also claimed that a tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas had struck a mine and suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring repeated warnings. That claim could not be independently verified either, and there was no immediate report of the incident from United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, the military agency that monitors incidents at sea.

For now, the only established fact is that the Guards made the claim. Whether a radar in Bahrain was hit, and what damage was done, remains unconfirmed until the United States or Bahrain responds or independent evidence emerges. Gulf states that host US forces will be watching closely for any sign that the lull is breaking down.