Iran11 September, 20263 min read
Hung Cao Says Iranian Attacks Significantly Damaged Naval Support Activity Bahrain Headquarters
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Naval Support Activity Bahrain sustained significant damage from Iranian strikes, per US acknowledgment. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao publicly acknowledged the damage scale in an Epoch Times interview.
Bahrain base hit
Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao acknowledged that Iranian attacks significantly damaged Naval Support Activity Bahrain, the headquarters for US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet, and said, “They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” during an interview reported by The Epoch Times. The damage followed Iranian targeting of the facility after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, and the US Navy said it was evaluating whether the base should be repaired and how it would support military operations in the region.
“‘They blew the hell out of Bahrain,’ Cao told The Epoch Times earlier this week.”
Cao said the Navy was considering its options for the installation, including whether repairs would be required, and he told reporters, “I have a task force that’s looking at that.” The US Navy also indicated it does not expect to return to the base in the immediate future, with Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle telling sailors displaced from NSA Bahrain, “We’re not getting back in there anytime soon.”
Iranian reaction and US framing
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi welcomed what he called a rare acknowledgment by Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, writing on X, “We appreciate the candor of Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao,” and adding that Iran’s response targeted US military infrastructure. Araghchi said, “Our powerful Armed Forces did indeed 'blow the hell out of the 5th Fleet HQ in Bahrain,' as well as other bases supporting US aggression,” framing the strikes as retaliation tied to Washington’s support for Israel.
In the same reporting stream, The Economic Times said Iranian strikes damaged multiple American military aircraft this week on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, citing a U.S. official to Reuters. The Economic Times also tied the broader conflict toll to US air defenses, saying Patriot interceptors were used “to counter the missiles,” while noting that specific inventory numbers are classified and that the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated about 65% of US Patriot interceptors were expended between February and July.
Operational stakes and costs
The US Navy’s admission about Naval Support Activity Bahrain came as the service weighed future options for the facility, with Cao saying the acting secretary was assessing whether the base would need repairs to sustain forces in the region. Reporting in the same set of accounts said the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew was left with “no place for them to pull in,” and that the USS Abraham Lincoln spent nearly nine months on an extended deployment including about 200 days in a combat zone before docking at Laem Chabang, Thailand.
The Economic Times reported that since the Iran war started in February, 18 US service members have been killed and over 800 injured, while also citing a May Congressional Research Service report that 42 US military aircraft had already been lost or damaged in the conflict. Other reporting tied the Bahrain damage to logistics and replacement planning, saying the US Navy had to rely on a logistics hub on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean after the base was damaged, and that returning to the damaged Bahrain facility would not be in the near term.