Sirens blared in Bahrain as Iranian drones reportedly struck the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet
The Iranian military has attacked US bases in multiple Gulf states, and warned locals to keep their distance from “US terrorist army forces” in anticipation of more strikes. The attacks came immediately after US forces bombed the Iranian cities of Ahvaz, Khorramabad, and Jask.
Sirens sounded twice in Bahrain on Friday morning, as two waves of attacks targeted Sheikh Isa Air Base and Naval Support Activity Bahrain, the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
“This morning, the fuel tanks, large equipment warehouses and silos, and the barracks of the US terrorist army forces at the Isa Air Base in Bahrain were targeted by Arash kamikaze drones,” the Iranian Army said in a statement broadcast on Iranian state media. In a separate statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that it had damaged an observation tower at Naval Support Activity Bahrain.
Both facilities have come under Iranian attack on multiple occasions since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February. Footage shared on social media showed plumes of smoke rising from the area of the naval base after the second round of sirens sounded.
The Iranian army also confirmed striking Camp Buehring, Camp Doha and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, as well as “aircraft hangars, aviation maintenance hangars and a barracks” at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. The IRGC said that it inflicted casualties on American personnel in an attack on Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
Iranian-linked forces also attacked a base hosting US personnel in Erbil, Iraq, according to the Associated Press.
Bahrain and Kuwait secretly sent their own jets to carry out attacks inside Iran earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. These previously unreported missions could explain why Iran focused almost all of its firepower on these two counties on Friday, as it did against the UAE in response to Emirati jets striking its Lavan Island refinery in April.
The US and Iran have traded tit-for-tat strikes for 13 consecutive nights, since a tentative ceasefire collapsed earlier this month. Between Thursday night and Friday morning, US forces bombed multiple locations in central and southern Iran, including Ahvaz, Khorramabad near the Iraqi border, and the port city of Jask. At least four people were killed and five injured in US missile attacks on Ahvaz, local authorities said.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that command centers, drone sites, telecommunications towers, coastal surveillance sites, and naval assets were targeted in order to “further diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Wednesday that any US aggression would be met with a “decisive response.”
“Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye. Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,” he wrote on social media.
Our defense doctrine is clear: eye for an eye.
Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response.
Those who contribute to such aggression, whatever the kind of support, will also be considered as legitimate targets.
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) July 22, 2026
Iran has long held that the presence of the US military endangers the Gulf states. “We warn the general public in countries where American soldiers are stationed to immediately stay out of a radius of 500 meters from the places where American soldiers are hiding, in order to be safe,” the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.
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