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A top Navy official has admitted that Iran “blew the hell out of Bahrain,” the most direct acknowledgment yet from a senior US official of the damage done to the Fifth Fleet’s headquarters.

Getting into it: Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao made the comments in an interview with The Epoch Times published Thursday. Cao was referring to Naval Support Activity Bahrain, which houses US Naval Forces Central Command and the Fifth Fleet and has served as the Navy’s main logistics hub in the Middle East. Iran began targeting the base after the US and Israel struck the country on Feb. 28. Open-source and satellite imagery had already indicated substantial damage, but no official had said it this plainly on the record.

Asked whether the Navy would need to repair the base to sustain forces in the region, Cao said, “I have a task force that’s looking at that.”

The damage has had significant ramifications for the Navy. According to Cao, it left the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln with “no place for them to pull in.” The Lincoln, which spent nearly nine months deployed, has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and sailors’ families over reports of food and water shortages, plumbing problems and deteriorating morale. The Navy said combat had disrupted traditional supply hubs in the region but that the crew kept access to clean water, healthy meals and working air conditioning. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the reports were “completely misrepresented.”

The fallout has also reopened a larger argument about whether the US can hold its Middle East posture at all. Some analysts say that position is “unsustainable” if Iran continues launching attacks on key US facilities. Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who once ran CENTCOM, told The Cipher Brief last month that US outposts in the region “are no longer viable,” noting that current regional commander Adm. Brad Cooper has been running operations from a distance rather than from CENTCOM’s forward headquarters at Al Udeid in Qatar.

Cao’s comment also cuts against the administration’s line that Iran’s offensive capability has been destroyed. Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin called it a stunning admission and said she had not heard a senior US official concede as much on the record before.

This all comes as attacks between the US and Iran continue to escalate. Last week, US forces reported striking 10 Iran-linked tankers in retaliation for Iranian missile attacks on American warships, and Iran claimed to have hit US fighter jets stationed in Jordan.