Iran has claimed responsibility for a retaliatory strike on a United States early-warning radar installation in Bahrain, escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington after a US airstrike hit a communications tower in Iran near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its forces destroyed the radar system in the attack, marking the first direct Iranian assault on US military installations in several months.
The Iranian military described the operation as a warning to Washington against further attacks and what it called aerial interference and oil smuggling activities in the Strait of Hormuz.
“This is a serious warning to the aggressor enemy to end its aerial mischief and oil smuggling in the strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC said.
It added that its aerospace force remained on full alert and would respond without restrictions if the United States repeated its attacks.
However, US Central Command disputed Iran’s account, denying that the radar installation had been destroyed. It said American forces had intercepted two Iranian drones heading towards Bahrain.
The exchange comes as President Donald Trump continues to signal caution over launching another major military operation against Iran, despite maintaining that the United States could use force if necessary.
In media interviews over the past 24 hours, Trump said Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, had urged him to refrain from planned large-scale strikes against Tehran.
He also disclosed that he had instructed Vice-President JD Vance to abandon his interest in pursuing negotiations with Iran and concentrate instead on corruption and fraud allegations in Democratic-led cities and states.
Vance had been regarded by Iranian officials as one of the more credible figures within Trump's circle for engaging in diplomatic discussions. However, Tehran had rejected his request for a personal meeting with Iranian negotiators to discuss the conditions for a peace agreement.
The vice-president has also emerged as a prominent Republican voice linking the party's widespread losses in the recent midterm elections to the war.
Trump, meanwhile, expressed disappointment with the American public over concerns about the economic consequences of the conflict, arguing that higher diesel prices were a relatively small cost compared with preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Opposition to a renewed US military campaign is also evident in British public opinion. A YouGov survey conducted for the Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu) found that 65 percent of respondents opposed the United States restarting the war against Iran, while only 14 percent supported such action.
The survey, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday, also found that 54 percent opposed allowing British military bases to be used by Washington for attacks on Iran. Twenty-nine percent supported the use of the bases.
On the question of additional British sanctions against Tehran, 45 percent backed further restrictions, while 22 percent opposed them.
The findings were published before two Iranian nationals were found guilty on Thursday of spying and plotting attacks against journalists in the United Kingdom. Iran's embassy rejected the court ruling, describing it as an attempt to advance a political agenda.
Caabu Director Chris Doyle said the survey reflected widespread public scepticism about the prospect of another war and its potential outcomes.
“The British public are sceptical about any war on Iran and what it might achieve,” Doyle said.
He added that the level of opposition among people who voted for Labour in the 2024 general election should concern Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government, with 79 percent of that group opposing further military action.
Meanwhile, developments inside Iran suggest the conflict is also intensifying debate over the country's long-standing nuclear policy.
Iran's 88-member Assembly of Experts has called for a review of the country's defence doctrine, including a reassessment of its participation in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The intervention makes the assembly the first governing institution in Iran to formally demand such a review, potentially opening the way for religious approval of efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the body described reconsidering Iran's NPT membership as an “unavoidable necessity” and a “public and national demand”.
The assembly is made up of elected Islamic jurists responsible for selecting Iran's supreme leader. Its intervention carries particular religious and political weight because its members are senior clerics, most of whom are expected to possess the qualifications to exercise independent Islamic legal reasoning.
Iran has maintained a prohibition against nuclear weapons based on a religious ruling, or fatwa, issued by the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. However, the validity and continued relevance of that position have come under increasing scrutiny among political and security figures following US attacks on the country.
The extent of Iran's remaining nuclear capabilities remains disputed, including whether it possesses sufficient enriched uranium stockpiles and the technology required to manufacture a nuclear weapon.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has also raised concerns over the lack of access to Iranian nuclear facilities and the country's failure to provide sufficient information about its nuclear programme.
The agency said its concerns had increased because Iran had not permitted access to design information or inspections at the Isfahan facility.
It said it remained unable to establish the exact location of the uranium enrichment facility at Isfahan or determine whether nuclear materials were present there, stressing that verification activities in Iran must resume without further delay.
