TEHRAN / WASHINGTON: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Friday its forces targeted and destroyed a US early-warning radar system in Bahrain, while the US military denied the claim and said it shot down two Iranian attack drones headed towards the Gulf island.
‘A few hours ago, IRGC Aerospace Force fighters targeted and destroyed the US aggressors’ early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain,’ the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iranian state media.
The Guards said the operation was retaliation for a US air attack on a telecommunications tower in Sirik, located in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, on the shores of the Strait of Hormuz.
‘This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to stop its aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz,’ the Guards added.
Several hours later, US Central Command (Centcom) rejected the Iranian claim, saying its forces had intercepted two ‘one-way attack drones’ launched at Bahrain and reported no casualties or damage.
Move to block war funding Meanwhile, four US senators have threatened to block a government funding agreement unless it includes provisions barring the Trump administration from using federal money to continue military operations against Iran.
Michael Bennet (D-Colorado), Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland), Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) issued a joint statement on Thursday demanding that any short-term spending bill include explicit restrictions on funding the war.
‘The American people do not want more war in the Middle East but that is what President Trump has given them.
Congress cannot allow Trump to continue his conflict we must force him to end it,’ they wrote.
In a separate statement, Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) announced that hewas preparing legislative language to end the war and hoped to attach it to the forthcoming funding measure.
SenatorPattyMurray(D-Washington), the senior Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said lawmakers were examining several options, including the duration of the temporary funding measure and possible restrictions on the administration’s spending authority.
The administration is said to be considering a temporary funding measure that would keep the government operating through March, although no final decision has been made.
IAEA concern Amid the ongoing conflict, the UN nuclear watchdog urged Iran on Friday to take ‘incremental steps’ to allow inspectors to return to key nuclear facilities, warning that such access is ‘critical’.
In a report seen by AFP, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was ‘critical’ to conduct ‘verification activities in Iran without further delay’ after nuclear sites were hit during a 12-day conflict with Israel and the US in June 2025 and the latest war.
‘The director general encourages Iran to consider technical and gradual measures by which conditions are achieved that allow for the return of agency inspectors to Iran,’ the report said.
Although inspectors visited the Bushehr nuclear plant in September, the agency said it is ‘increasingly concerned’ about the Isfahan Fuel Enrichment Plant, noting it does not know the facility’s exact location, status or whether it contains nuclear material.
While acknowledging that military attacks created an ‘unprecedented situation’, the IAEA said a lack of cooperation leaves it unable to conclude that no declared nuclear material has been diverted from peaceful activities, raising a ‘serious proliferation concern’ that ‘needs to be rectified with the utmost urgency’.-Agencies / Anwar Iqbal