Bahrain accuses Iran of attacking its territory to ‘settle’ score with US

Résumé détaillé

Tehran says its air attacks on countries cooperating with the US are justified under international law.

Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denounced what it describes as “a resumption of Iran’s aggression” after the latest air attacks on its Riffa Air Base by Tehran.

In a statement, the ministry said the attacks on Sunday launched by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) violated international law and “no pretext can legitimise violations of state sovereignty”.

“Bahrain also rejects the use of its territory to settle accounts and holds Iran fully responsible for the attacks and their consequences,” the statement added.

Bahrain’s military said its defence systems intercepted several Iranian “aerial attacks” targeting the kingdom. Its Riffa Air Base is used by the United States military.

The IRGC has not commented. It had said on Friday that it launched an attack on a US early warning radar facility in Bahrain and destroyed it. Bahrain said it intercepted two drones that day.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, noted that Iran had held back amid intermittent US attacks in the past weeks but in the past three days, it has fired twice at Bahrain.

“We were seeing the United States’s low-intensity warfare being conducted against Iran. From time to time, the US attacked Iran’s military assets – telecommunications towers specifically – in the southern part of the country,” he said.

But that appears to have changed. “It seems this is now the new rule of engagement,” Serdar added.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei defended Tehran’s attacks and accused Gulf countries of aiding US strikes against Iran.

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