Iran and CENTCOM give conflicting accounts of Al-Rifaa radar strike

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Friday, November 13, that it targeted and destroyed a US early-warning radar system at a base in Bahrain, identified in reports as Al-Rifaa helicopter base. The IRGC said the strike was retaliation for what it described as a US air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik county, in Iran's southern Hormozgan province.

US Central Command denied the radar was destroyed. CENTCOM said US forces intercepted two Iranian one-way attack drones targeting Bahrain, with no casualties or damage. Bahrain's air defense systems also intercepted and destroyed an Iranian drone, and the Interior Ministry urged residents to remain calm and proceed to the nearest safe location.

On Sunday, November 15, the IRGC claimed a second attack: six drones targeting a US air-defense radar at Al-Rifaa. Bahrain said it intercepted and destroyed several Iranian aerial attacks. The US military had not commented on Sunday's claim at the time of reporting.

The competing accounts leave no independent confirmation of what happened at Al-Rifaa. Iran says the radar was destroyed.

The IRGC Aerospace Force declared it was on "full alert to respond without limits" to repeated aggression in the Strait of Hormuz. That warning lands on a waterway already running at roughly 65 percent below pre-conflict traffic levels through November 10, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations. On the same day as the first IRGC claim, a gas carrier struck an IRGC mine and exploded in the eastern strait.

Separately, Saudi Arabia's coalition spokesperson, Brigadier General Turki al-Malki, said air defense intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia toward Riyadh.

The Strait of Hormuz carries a large share of global oil and gas. With traffic already down sharply and the IRGC warning of unlimited response, the risk of a wider confrontation affecting energy prices and regional security is real.