Stranded American in Bahrain recounts surviving reported Iranian strike on high-rise building, pleads for help
As the conflict between the United States and Iran enters its second week, flight cancellations and airport closures have rippled across Middle Eastern airspace, leaving many Americans abroad scrambling to find a way home.
Stranded American citizen Yahir, who was in Bahrain when the conflict erupted, told Fox News Digital he had a close call over the weekend when an alleged Iranian drone slammed into the lower floors of a high-rise building where he was staying. The building was a luxury residential tower that reportedly housed many American tourists and U.S. Navy personnel likely stationed with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquartered near the capital, Manama.
Yahir, from Los Angeles, said despite witnessing terrifying scenes of the conflict and experiencing one firsthand, he is still waiting for help getting home, claiming local U.S. embassies and State Department officials have put him through a maze of logistical hurdles with no clear next steps.
“Two days ago, my building was hit,” Yahir said, referring to Fontana Infinity, located in Manama. “I was in the building at the time and, of course, the whole building shook. It felt like an earthquake.”
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“It was a shock, but it makes sense because everyone living there was American besides a few Russians here and there, but Fontana was full of American Navy,” he added.
Yahir added that he has witnessed horrific scenes of Iranian drones and missiles striking not only military targets but also civilian areas, triggering powerful explosions and sending massive plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
“We saw right in front of our faces, the drone hitting it,” Yahir said, describing the moment he witnessed a building being struck. “I remember everyone around there was crying. They were evacuating all the buildings. People were crying. It felt really devastating.”
Blasts have reportedly become a daily occurrence, some feeling like earthquakes that would violently shake nearby areas.
“The interceptors were hitting the missile and the ground shaking. You’ll feel that every day at this point,” he said. “It’s been literally every day.”
The chaos in the region has reportedly led to residents receiving numerous daily alerts of incoming missiles on their phones. Each warning forces civilians to take immediate shelter, Yahir said, recalling one instance when he had to shelter in a basement of a well-known mall, The Avenues, for more than an hour.
“At this point, I’m thinking I even get them when I’m sleeping, and it wakes me up,” he said. “I feel like over ten times a day we get those alerts.”
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The ongoing missile strikes have profoundly affected daily life in Bahrain, turning once-bustling areas into virtual “ghost towns.”
Yahir said his friends have stopped going to work, and shops are either fully closed or closing far earlier than usual.
He added that the heightened security presence is palpable across the country, with police stationed on nearly every corner and large military vehicles patrolling the streets daily.
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Yahir further expressed deep frustration with the local U.S. Embassy, saying there has been little government assistance and describing the overall experience as “terrible.”
When inquiring about evacuation flights, calls to the embassy often triggered an automated message stating that citizens should not expect help from the U.S. government and that the embassies cannot assist with anything, according to Yahir.
“I feel like they need to focus on the embassies around the world because I feel they’re useless to Americans. They don’t help us at all,” Yahir said. “I just want to go home.”
Despite submitting a crisis intake form shared by the State Department, he has received few updates on evacuation plans. The delays and lack of clear communication, he said, have left him feeling stranded and anxious with no concrete plan for returning home.
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Over 40,000 American citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East since Feb. 28, the State Department told Fox News Digital Tuesday. A spokesperson noted that U.S. authorities directly assisted over 27,000 of those Americans abroad by offering travel assistance and other security guidance.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s leadership, the Department of State has completed over two dozen charter flights and has safely evacuated thousands of Americans from the Middle East,” the department said. “The State Department will continue to actively assist any American citizen who wishes to depart the Middle East to do so.”
American citizens stranded in Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel are urged to complete the Crisis Intake Form on the State Department website or call +1-202-501-4444.
Ex-Navy SEAL warns withdrawing from Iran now would hand ‘victory’ to regime
A former Navy SEAL warned Tuesday that halting U.S. action in Iran now would hand a victory to the regime, arguing Tehran would quickly reconstitute its offensive capabilities.
“You can’t stop now. If we were to stop now, it’s a victory for the regime. They would only be more empowered… They’d go back to building more missiles, get back on their nuclear program,” retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward said on “The Faulkner Focus.”
Harward’s warning comes as oil prices surge and some congressional lawmakers call for an end to the war.
“We need a government in Iran that will not pursue those offensive capabilities and be a threat to their partners and us in the region,” he said. “And so we’ve got to stay in the fight ’til we accomplish that.”
Harward, who was a member of George W. Bush’s National Security Council and served in Iraq and Afghanistan, predicted the “short-term pain” of surging gas prices and that threats from Iran wouldn’t last long.
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The next step, he said, is to focus on how Iran’s new government will act after an “unprecedented destruction of military power” of both the regime and its proxies, like Hezbollah.
Harward expressed surprise at Lebanon’s recent declaration that offensive operations conducted by Hezbollah are illegal, meaning Lebanon’s government positioned itself against the Iranian regime.
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“They’ve turned on Hezbollah as well, which is a challenge in Beirut itself. So I think all fronts are coalescing in this fight against Iran and their surrogates,” Harward said.
Hezbollah is an Iran-backed terrorist group that operates primarily out of Lebanon and has long been in conflict with the country’s government.
Harward touted the progress made since Operation Epic Fury began and the scale of U.S. military might in the Middle East.
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“[It] makes you very proud to be an American and proud of the investment in our armed forces and the people who serve. They’re willing to put their lives at risk for long-term peace, security and stability. And that’s the end objective here,” he said.
Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28, 2026, as a military campaign led by the United States and Israel against the Iranian regime, aiming to systematically dismantle Iran’s military infrastructure and prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Iran regime cited as Trump admin set to designate Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood a terror group
JOHANNESBURG: The Trump administration, citing Iran, is taking more action against the Muslim Brotherhood—this time in one of the world’s worst conflicts: the civil war in Sudan.
On Monday, the State Department declared the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) to be a “Designated Global Terrorist and intends to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, effective March 16, 2026.” The statement also contained a warning to Iran regarding its meddling in the conflict.
“The SMB has contributed upwards of 20,000 fighters to the war in Sudan, many receiving training and other support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the statement noted.
It added, “As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime has financed and directed malign activities globally through its IRGC. The United States will use all available tools to deprive the Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
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In November, the State Department sanctioned the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, declaring it to be a terrorist organization in those countries.
The organization, the State Department noted, is “composed of the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing – the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB), (and) uses unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and advance its violent Islamist ideology.”
The statement added that the group’s “fighters have conducted mass executions of civilians in areas they captured, and repeatedly and summarily executed civilians based on race, ethnicity or perceived affiliation with opposition groups.”
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital that the Muslim Brotherhood’s links within the Sudanese government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) are deep and contribute aggressively in the war against the Rapid Support Forces.
Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen, added that the Brotherhood has a “strong component” in the Sudanese regular army.
Adding that the Brotherhood in Sudan has historical links with Osama Bin Laden, responsible with al Qaeda for the 9/11 terrorist attack, Fitton-Brown stated that the State Department’s move is significant. “It is the first concrete indication that the November executive order was only the start of a process.”
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On the sanctioning of the Brotherhood in several countries in the region, he said, “I expect there will be many more, possibly starting with al-Islah in Yemen.” He said the move “puts Sudan under political pressure because it is effectively associating its government with a terrorist entity.”
The effects of the nearly three-year-long civil war on the people of Sudan are dire. Last month, the Council on Foreign Relations’ global conflict tracker stated the “death toll estimates vary widely, with the former U.S. envoy for Sudan suggesting as many as 400,000 have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. More than 11 million have been displaced, giving rise to the worst displacement crisis in the world.
On Monday, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho., posted on X, “This is a vital step to curb the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the region, especially as hardline Islamists seek to reassert themselves. Now, we must also seriously consider the same FTO designation for the genocidal Rapid Support Forces and their terror campaign in Sudan.”
Fitton-Brown said the State Department’s designation against the Brotherhood in Sudan “is good because it objectively targets a group of people who have brought untold misery to Sudan over decades. It is not a statement of support for the RSF. It is potentially empowering of democratic forces inside Sudan, although it will not be sufficient to change the way Sudan is governed or end the civil war, without much more proactive external involvement in the country.”
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Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian diplomat in Khartoum, was not as hopeful, telling Toronto’s Globe and Mail that hardline factions within leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s government alliance “will push him now to ignore the U.S. and other potential mediators and go all out,” adding “they have nothing further to lose by holding back.”
Israel commends ‘courage’ of Iranian women’s soccer team as five players granted asylum in Australia
Israel’s Foreign Ministry praised members of Iran’s women’s national soccer team after they appeared to take a political stance by remaining silent during their country’s national anthem at the Women’s Asian Cup. The show of support comes as five players have secured asylum in Australia, while uncertainty surrounds the remaining 21 team members.
In a message posted on X, Israel commended the women on their “courage,” adding that the “world is watching.”
“Sometimes courage is silence,” the post on X read. “To the women of Iran’s national [soccer] team, who refused to sing the regime’s anthem, we applaud your courage! Stay safe. The world is watching.”
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The post included a photo with a similar message that read, “To the brave Iranian women of the national team, the world sees your courage.”
The situation involving the Iranian women’s soccer team began after the squad arrived in Australia for the tournament last month. The team was already there when the U.S. launched a joint military operation with Israel against Iran.
In the team’s opening match against South Korea, the squad stood silent during the national anthem as Iranian head coach Marziyeh Jafari, also silent, smiled at her team. The silence was interpreted by some as an act of resistance. But in the following match against Australia and the subsequent match that led to their elimination, the team sang along and saluted during the national anthem.
Concern for the team after the tournament prompted the Australian Iranian Council to launch an online petition urging Australian authorities to “ensure that no member of Iran’s women’s national football team is to depart Australia while credible fears for their safety remain.”
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President Donald Trump also weighed in, stating that the U.S. would “take them” if Australia did not grant them asylum.
Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke announced on Tuesday that five women were transported from their hotel in Gold Coast “to a safe location” by federal police officers where they later met with him and began the processing for their humanitarian visas.
“I say to the other members of the team the same opportunity is there,” he said. “Australia has taken the Iranian women’s soccer team into our hearts.”
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The women granted asylum were happy for their names and pictures to be published, Burke said, but added that the players wanted to make clear that they were “not political activists.”
Protesters attempted to stop the team bus from leaving on Tuesday outside the hotel they were staying. The remaining members of the team and coaches flew to Sydney Airport, where police evicted protesters from the international terminal before the team boarded an international flight to Kuala Lumpur, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.