U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Rafael Peralta, left, is one of three warships reported to have been attacked by Iranian missile and drone Strikes on Thursday. File Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryre Arciaga/U.S. Navy/UPI
U.S. Central Command said Thursday that American forces struck Iranian military sites responsible for “unprovoked” missile, drone and boat attacks on U.S. warships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“U.S. forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes as U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
CENTCOM said Iran had targeted the USS Truxtun, the USS Rafael Peralta and the USS Mason.
“No assets were struck,” it said.
The U.S. strikes targeted the Bandar Abbas and Qeshm ports near the strait, CBS News and CNN reported, each citing unnamed U.S. officials.
The attacked Iranian facilities included “missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes,” according to CENTCOM.
After the U.S. vessels had transited the strait, President Donald Trump promptly took to social media to post a warning to Iran.
“Missiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down,” he wrote. “Likewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air. They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave! A normal Country would have allowed these Destroyers to pass, but Iran is not a Normal country. They are led by LUNATICS.”
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said in a statement carried by Iranian state-owned outlet Press TV that it attacked the U.S. warships in response to an alleged U.S. cease-fire violation as well as a U.S. attack on an Iranian tanker near the Iranian city of Jask.
Iranian forces caused “significant damage” to the U.S. warships, it said.
A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters also said the Iranian strikes were in response to the “aggressive, terrorist and outlaw” U.S. military, Press TV reported.
The attacks come after Trump earlier this week called off Project Freedom, a U.S. military operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, as Washington and Tehran try to reach an agreement to end the war.
Despite the attacks, Trump told reporters that the fragile cease-fire that halted the war that began in late February was still intact.
“They trifled with us today. We blew them away,” Trump told reporters Thursday evening.
“If there’s no cease-fire, you’re not going to have to know. You’re just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran.”
