Iranian strikes force US to mull relocating Fifth Fleet assets from Bahrain to occupied territories: Report

The extensive damage inflicted by Iranian missiles and drones on the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain has compelled Washington to consider relocating parts of its military assets from the tiny Persian Gulf state to bases in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, US officials are weighing a westward shift of some military forces in West Asia, including a possible expansion of presence in Israel.

The discussions follow devastating retaliatory strikes by Iranian armed forces during the US-Israeli war on Iran earlier this year.

The attacks caused an estimated $400 million in direct damage to the Fifth Fleet’s main base in Bahrain, exposing the vulnerability of US positions in the region.

Iranian strikes heavily targeted and disabled key infrastructure, including advanced communications facilities, military barracks, warehouses, water systems, and other critical structures.

Satellite imagery revealed widespread destruction, with several buildings sustaining such severe damage that they have been rendered unusable.

Repair and reconstruction costs for the damaged facilities alone are projected at around $400 million. However, the overall financial toll on the US is expected to be far higher.

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The Pentagon has already requested roughly $80 billion from Congress to cover expenses related to the war of aggression against Iran.

This figure comes on top of a massive additional military spending increase pushed by President Donald Trump at the urging of his War Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Hegseth has been actively lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to approve a staggering $1.5 trillion US military budget.

The Wall Street Journal further reported that the Pentagon has tasked engineers with designing a hardened underground command center in Bahrain to better protect against future Iranian missile and drone attacks.

Citing unnamed US officials, the report added that Washington is also considering scaling back its military footprint in other Persian Gulf Arab states, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

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Among potential relocation sites, Israeli-occupied Palestinian lands rank at the top of the list.

Dozens of US military aircraft have already been stationed at Ben Gurion Airport in preparation for and during the war.

For now, the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain remains Washington’s primary naval command for the Persian Gulf and broader West Asia.

It oversees US military onslaughts across a vast area of approximately 6.5 million square kilometers, stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean.

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