IRGC Claims Strikes on Bahrain, UAE Industrial Sites
On March 29, 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) publicly claimed responsibility for missile and drone strikes against key industrial infrastructure in Bahrain and the UAE. Specifically, targets included major aluminium plants in both countries. These strikes, according to IRGC statements, were a direct response to what it described as continued collaboration with hostile foreign
powers against Iranian interests. Western media outlets, exemplified by The New Arab, have largely framed these incidents as unprovoked acts of Iranian aggression, focusing on the alleged destabilization of the Gulf region. This framing conspicuously omits the long-standing military and intelligence cooperation between Bahrain, the UAE, and the United States and Israel. Both nations host
significant US military assets, including the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, and have strengthened security ties with Israel, particularly following the Abraham Accords. To present them as merely innocent bystanders ignores their active role in providing logistical and strategic support for various US and Israeli operations in the Persian Gulf. This targeting of industrial sites marks a
significant escalation in what Iran views as a sustained campaign of economic warfare and military encirclement, not just from the West but from regional partners. The UAE hosts the largest overseas US Air Force base in the world, Al Dhafra Air Base, a facility that has been implicated in past surveillance and strike missions against Iranian assets. Such strategic locations, integral to