Acting Navy secretary: Iran ‘blew the hell out of’ NSA Bahrain; task force weighs repair
NEW · Fri. 5:15 p.m. EDT
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told The Epoch Times that Iranian strikes “blew the hell out of” Naval Support Activity Bahrain — headquarters of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the Fifth Fleet — in a rare on-the-record acknowledgment of war damage at the Gulf logistics hub. Cao said a Navy task force is weighing whether to repair the base; Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has said the service is “not getting back in there anytime soon.” Newsweek, Al Jazeera, The Hill, and Navy Times tied the admission to earlier Wall Street Journal satellite reporting of command-center and warehouse hits, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s on-X boast repeating Cao’s phrase, and logistics strain on carriers such as USS Abraham Lincoln.
Then–Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus arrives at NAVCENT headquarters, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Nov. 23, 2016. File photograph; not from the Iran-war damage Cao described.
U.S. Navy / Petty Officer 1st Class Brian Morales (public domain)
Center-left view
Newsweek, Al Jazeera, and The New Republic cast Cao’s quote as the first high-level confirmation that early Pentagon messaging understated Bahrain damage — pairing it with WSJ satellite findings, Araghchi’s gloat, Tuesday’s Al-Azraq aircraft hits, and questions about whether dispersed Gulf basing can sustain the war without rebuilding the Fifth Fleet hub.
Sources: Newsweek · Al Jazeera · The New Republic
Center-right view
The Epoch Times interview, The Hill’s write-up, and Navy Times / Fox coverage of Caudle’s “anytime soon” line and Gulf basing rethink frame Cao’s candor as confirming Iran still hit a critical logistics spine — with a repair-or-relocate task force and pressure to harden or disperse command nodes after ~$400M-class damage estimates and carrier resupply pain.
Sources: The Epoch Times · The Hill · Navy Times · Fox News