Iranian drones target Bahrain as Strait of Hormuz attacks continue

Bahrain said a number of Iranian drones targeted the kingdom Saturday, hours after U.S. Central Command said it struck Iranian missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites overnight. The attacks landed on top of a new strike on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, sharpening the risk that a fragile interim U.S.-Iran deal could unravel into a wider regional confrontation.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations center said a tanker was attacked in the strait, but the crew was safe and no environmental damage was reported. Maritime security reporting identified another vessel hit near Oman earlier in the week as the Singapore-flagged container ship Ever Lovely, which was not part of the U.N. evacuation plan for ships trapped by the closure of the waterway.

That plan, drawn up by the United Nations International Maritime Organization, aimed to help evacuate about 600 ships and around 11,000 mariners stranded by the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz. The agency paused the operation after a vessel was struck in the Gulf of Oman and said it wanted to reconfirm safety guarantees before moving again. Maritime security sources said that attack was likely carried out by a drone. The British maritime security company Ambrey said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had ordered two Panama-flagged ships to change course earlier Thursday, and Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority warned that transit outside its designated routes would not be guaranteed safe passage.

The escalation comes even after Washington and Tehran reached an interim deal last week and gave themselves 60 days to work out the details of a final accord. Those talks still have to settle shipping through the key strait and the fate of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Bahrain said the drone strike was a “flagrant threat to the security of citizens and residents,” a message that carried added weight because the kingdom hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet and has long been one of Iran’s most outspoken critics.

Vice President JD Vance, who has led the American negotiations with Iran, said Friday night that Iran should “pick up the phone” if there are disagreements about the ceasefire agreement and warned that “violence will be met with violence.” With drones hitting Bahrain, a tanker struck again in the Strait of Hormuz, and maritime authorities pausing evacuations, the narrow channel between limited truce and open conflict is narrowing fast.