Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Hung Cao acknowledged Thursday that Iranian military strikes caused extensive damage to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, a key U.S. installation in the Persian Gulf region.
"They blew the hell out of Bahrain," Cao said in an interview with The Epoch Times, referring to the base by its acronym NASB. The facility serves as the headquarters for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and functions as the Navy's primary logistics hub for Middle East operations.
The base has faced repeated Iranian targeting since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran in late February. Cao said the Navy is now evaluating options for the facility, including whether it should be repaired. "I have a task force that's looking at that," he told the publication.
The damage has affected carrier operations in the region. Cao noted that the USS Abraham Lincoln's crew "had nowhere to dock" as a result of the strikes on the base. The extent of the damage has raised questions about when U.S. forces can resume operations from the installation.
Admiral Daryl Caudle, the Navy's highest-ranking officer, stated earlier this month that the service would not return to the Bahrain base "anytime soon" due to the damage sustained. Cao's public acknowledgment of the scale of destruction represents a rare official confirmation of the Iranian strikes' impact on the critical U.S. military facility.
Satellite imagery and publicly available analysis had previously indicated significant damage to American installations in Bahrain during Iranian attacks at the outset of the conflict.