US Says It Shot Down Two Iranian Drones Headed for Bahrain, Denying Radar Was Hit

"The IRGC launched two one-way attack drones toward Bahrain and both were shot down by US forces," Central Command said in a post on X. It added that there were no injuries or damage.

Earlier on Friday, the Guards had said in a statement that their forces "targeted and destroyed the US aggressors' early-warning radar" in Bahrain. The two sides have offered conflicting accounts, and neither has published evidence beyond their statements.

For companies operating in the Gulf, the question is whether the Iran war is spreading back onto the territory of US partners. Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, and strikes there would raise the risk premium on shipping and energy flows that have only partly recovered. Oil was on course for a second straight weekly decline on Friday, The National reported, as traders bet against a return to full-scale war.

Other security developments in the region continued on Friday. Oman was reviewing its response to a tanker stranded off Musandam, near the Strait of Hormuz. The International Atomic Energy Agency raised concerns about an underground Iranian uranium-enrichment plant, The National reported. In Istanbul, Turkey and Qatar signed a mutual defence agreement during talks between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The text of that agreement has not been published.

Bahrain's government had not commented publicly on the drone incident at the time of writing.