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Iran welcomed a rare acknowledgment by a senior U.S. Navy official that Iranian attacks severely damaged the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, with the Navy now evaluating the base's future.
"We appreciate the candor of Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on the social media platform X.
"Our powerful Armed Forces did indeed 'blow the hell out of the 5th Fleet HQ in Bahrain,' as well as other bases supporting US aggression," he said, adding: "The American people deserve better than footing the bill for Israel's wars."
Cao made the comment in an interview with The Epoch Times on Sept. 9, as he concluded a visit to a shipyard in Philadelphia.
"They blew the hell out of Bahrain," Cao said, in what The Epoch Times described as a direct and official acknowledgment of the conflict's impact on Naval Support Activity Bahrain, which has served as the Navy's Middle East fleet headquarters for years.
Iranian forces began targeting the base after U.S. and Israeli forces launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
While open-source and satellite imagery had previously indicated the base sustained substantial damage early in the war, Cao's remarks marked the first direct, high-level U.S. acknowledgment of the extent of that damage.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said earlier this month that the service would not return to Naval Support Activity Bahrain "anytime soon" because of the damage.
At an Aug. 31 Navy town hall, a sailor displaced from the base asked Caudle whether personal belongings left behind would be returned. Caudle said the Navy was working on a plan to reunite personnel with their belongings.
Asked whether the Navy would need to repair the Bahrain base to sustain regional operations, Cao said, "I have a task force that's looking at that."
Cao said the damage to the base also affected operations involving the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, leaving its crew with "no place for them to pull in."
The Lincoln spent nearly nine months on an extended deployment, including about 200 days in a combat zone, before docking at Laem Chabang, Thailand, earlier this month.
The prolonged deployment drew scrutiny from lawmakers and sailors' families amid reports of food and water shortages, plumbing problems, deteriorating morale, and concerns about sailors' mental health and the risk of self-harm.
The Navy previously told The Epoch Times that combat operations had disrupted traditional regional supply hubs, but said the Lincoln's crew maintained continuous access to clean water, healthy meal options, and functional air conditioning despite the disruptions.
The extent of the damage has fueled broader debate over the viability of U.S. military outposts in the Middle East.
Jim Webb, a Marine infantry veteran and independent national security consultant, said Cao's comments suggest the current U.S. force posture in the region "is unsustainable without continuing to be under attack."
"I don't think there's any way, you know, in the short, medium, or potentially even long term, that we can adequately defend a place like NSA Bahrain, or let alone the rest of the logistics bases there," Webb told The Epoch Times, adding that keeping U.S. troops at regional bases makes them "constant targets."
Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), similarly told The Cipher Brief last month that current US military outposts in the region "are no longer viable."
Petraeus said the current CENTCOM commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, has largely overseen recent combat operations from a distance rather than from CENTCOM's forward headquarters at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
"This is a result of the Iranians having capabilities they didn't have before, in terms of the numbers of drones and the numbers of missiles with the range required to hold our facilities at risk and to strike them and to kill our soldiers and wound them," Petraeus said.
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