President Donald Trump’s pick for Navy secretary has spoken out about the devastating impact of Iranian attacks on a U.S. naval base in the Middle East.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao conceded that Iranian forces “blew the hell out of Bahrain” when it repeatedly attacked the U.S. Navy base there between February and June.
The stunning admission marks a direct acknowledgment of the damage by a high-level government official as Trump’s war drags on.
Cao, 55, made the remark in an interview with The Epoch Times’ Ryan Morgan even as he awaits Senate confirmation.
Cao said the damage to the base, called Naval Support Activity Bahrain, left the crew aboard USS Abraham Lincoln with “no place for them to pull in.” The scandal-plagued Navy warship made its first port stop in roughly nine months just last week in Thailand.
When asked whether U.S. forces should return to the base to support brutal deployments like the one undertaken by the crew aboard USS Abraham Lincoln, Cao responded, “I have a task force that’s looking at that.”
The Pentagon and the Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cao’s remarks.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery, social media footage, and interviews with current and former service members found that the attacks on NSA Bahrain pummeled the base, including the command headquarters, at least a dozen other buildings, and two satellite communications terminals. No one was killed at the base.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, told the Journal in June that “CENTCOM rightfully prioritized the protection of people over buildings, and our strategy of protecting people worked. Iran shot more than 8,000 missiles and drones and only two hits resulted in U.S. fatalities.” He added that the U.S. inflicted more damage than it received from Iran.
Over the weekend, CENTCOM said on social media that it destroyed two Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for an attack on two U.S. Navy warships.
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost—taking out three of yours,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
