Bahrain in focus as Iran targets US radar, downs MQ-1 drone

TEHRAN – Iran’s Armed Forces have announced the destruction of a US early-warning radar installation in Bahrain and the downing of an American MQ-1 drone off the country’s southern coast, as Tehran issued a renewed warning that it would respond decisively to further military aggression. The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said its Aerospace Force had targeted and destroyed a US military early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain in an operation carried out on Friday.

According to an IRGC statement, the strike was conducted in response to an air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, in Iran’s southern Hormozgan Province. The statement described the radar as belonging to the US forces involved in the aggression against Iran, warning Washington against further aerial provocations and 'oil smuggling' in the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC said its Aerospace Force remained on full alert and was prepared to respond without geographical limitations if violations or attacks were repeated.

It also warned that companies violating the rules or cooperating with the adversary would face more severe punitive measures. In a separate announcement on Friday, the Iranian Army’s Navy said it had shot down a US MQ-1 unmanned aerial vehicle near Kuhestak, along the coast of Sirik in Hormozgan Province, east of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the statement, the drone was detected, tracked and intercepted by an advanced air-defense system operating as part of Iran’s integrated air-defense network.

The system struck the aircraft after tracking it in the Kuhestak coastal area. The MQ-1 Predator is a medium-altitude, long-endurance remotely piloted aircraft developed by US defense contractor General Atomics. It was extensively used by the US military for surveillance and combat operations in West Asia and other regions. The US Air Force retired its MQ-1 fleet in 2018, transitioning to the more advanced MQ-9 Reaper. Iran’s IRGC has previously announced the downing of multiple US drones during the ongoing conflict.

Last Friday, the Corps said it had brought down its 16th MQ-1 since the beginning of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran. The developments come amid heightened tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, through which Iran has restricted maritime passage since the early stages of the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28. The conflict was brought to a temporary halt by a ceasefire in early April following Iran’s retaliatory operations.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that Iran retains its right to legitimate self-defense under international law in the event of an armed attack by the United States. Araghchi said that, in the absence of a valid legal justification for the use of force, any US military attack against Iran would constitute an internationally wrongful act for which Washington would bear responsibility. He emphasized that Iran continued to exercise its right to self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, which recognizes the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense in response to an armed attack.

In remarks published on November 11, Araghchi also criticized 'Washington’s persistent reliance on failed policies and baseless assumptions' about Iran. Referring to earlier US pressure tactics, he recalled former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s demand that Iranians comply with Washington’s demands if they wanted to secure their livelihoods, and said current Secretary of State Marco Rubio had repeated the same rhetoric.