• Analysis
Iran destroyed US radar in Bahrain in retaliatory strike, IRGC says
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, its first direct attack on US military installations in months, in retaliation for an American airstrike on a communications tower at Sirik.
The strike and its stated purpose
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it targeted and destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, the first direct IRGC attack on US military installations for months. According to the IRGC, the strike was in response to a US airstrike on a communications tower in Sirik overlooking the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC framed the operation as a warning tied to the waterway:
This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to end its aerial mischief and oil smuggling in the strait of Hormuz
It added that the IRGC aerospace force is on full alert to confront the enemy without constraint.
Trump's position
- •Donald Trump said in media interviews over the past 24 hours that he will attack Iran only if necessary.
- •He claimed Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia have urged him to hold back from planned large-scale military strikes.
- •He said he asked Vice-President JD Vance to end his interest in negotiating a new deal with Iran and to focus instead on corruption and fraud in Democrat-run cities and states.
- •He said higher diesel prices were a small price to pay for preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, adding that he was disappointed in the American public.
Iranians, for their part, had seen Vance as the most trustworthy figure close to Trump, but rejected his request for a personal meeting with their negotiators to discuss the terms of a peace deal.
Iran's nuclear doctrine review
Iran's Assembly of Experts has become the first governing institution in the country to call for a review of its defence doctrine - a step that could potentially allow religious permission to seek a nuclear weapon. In a Thursday statement, the 88-strong assembly of senior clerics called for reviewing Iran's NPT membership, describing the move as an "unavoidable necessity" and a "public and national demand". Because its members are qualified to exercise independent Islamic legal reasoning, the intervention carries religious as well as political weight.
Iran's prohibition on nuclear weapons rests on a fatwa issued by the late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, whose relevance is now questioned inside political and security circles. Whether Iran has the stockpiles of uranium or technology to build a nuclear weapon is contested.
The UN nuclear inspectorate said it does not know the exact location of the Isfahan uranium enrichment facility:
We do not know the exact location of the Isfahan uranium enrichment facility
British opinion on a renewed war
A YouGov poll for the Council for Arab-British Understanding points to limited public appetite in the UK for a return to hostilities:
- •65% of the British public would oppose the US resuming the war in Iran, and only 14% would back it.
- •54% oppose UK bases being used by the US to mount attacks on Iran, with 29% in favour.
- •Support for additional UK sanctions against Iran stood at 45%, with 22% opposed.
Caabu director Chris Doyle said the findings should weigh on ministers: "What might make the Burnham government take note is the very high level of opposition to any further war amongst 2024 Labour voters, at 79%."
Fieldwork for the survey finished before Thursday's verdict, in which two Iranians were found guilty of spying and planning attacks on journalists in the UK. The Iranian embassy rejected the court judgment as an attempt to advance a political agenda.
The IRGC says its aerospace force remains on full alert to confront the enemy without constraint if violations are repeated, while the UN inspectorate says it is imperative that verification activities in Iran be carried out without further delay.
