The Navy is reconsidering the future of its Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain after Iranian attacks left the base badly damaged and unusable, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said this week.
“They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” Cao told The Epoch Times in an interview Tuesday. Asked whether the Navy would repair the base, Cao said he has “a task force that’s looking at that.”
Naval Support Activity Bahrain is one of the most important U.S. military installations in the Middle East. It hosts the Fifth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, which oversee operations across the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and surrounding waters.
Iran repeatedly attacked the installation after the war began in February. The Pentagon initially said the strikes caused no U.S. deaths and did not significantly disrupt operations, but Navy officials have since acknowledged extensive damage.
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Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told sailors last month that the Navy did not expect to return soon.
“We’re not getting back in there anytime soon,” Caudle said at an Aug. 31 town hall. “I just want to be completely honest with that.”
The attacks damaged the Fifth Fleet headquarters, barracks, warehouses and communications infrastructure, according to The Wall Street Journal. Repairs could require roughly $400 million in construction.
The Navy has had to shift some logistics elsewhere in the region while the base remains out of service. Cao, whom President Donald Trump said earlier this month he would nominate to the position permanently, said the damage also left the USS Abraham Lincoln without the regional port and logistics hub normally available to a carrier operating in the Middle East.
The question of whether to rebuild the base comes as Iran is again stepping up attacks on U.S. forces.
Iran launched drones at U.S. facilities in Bahrain on Sept. 1 during retaliation for another round of American strikes inside Iran. Bahrain said its forces intercepted the drones, and no major new damage to the U.S. base was reported.
Iran escalated further this week, firing about 20 ballistic missiles at a U.S.-used air base in Jordan after American forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers. U.S. officials later acknowledged that several American combat aircraft were damaged in the attack.
Iran has also repeatedly targeted U.S. Navy ships as fighting around the Strait of Hormuz intensifies.
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