Retaliatory strikes on Iran after the attack on the three US warships. US Army announcement

The United States struck Iranian military targets on Thursday after forces in Tehran attacked three US destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the US military said, in what it described as retaliatory strikes against “unprovoked hostilities” by Iran, AFP and Reuters reported.

The US military said it had “targeted Iranian military facilities” after three of its warships were attacked while transiting the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf.

“US forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and retaliated with defensive strikes as US Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Persian Gulf on May 7,” the US Middle East Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement posted on the X social network, adding that these were “missile, drone and small craft” attacks launched by Iran.

U.S. forces “eliminated imminent threats and targeted Iranian military installations responsible for attacking U.S. forces, including missile and drone launch bases; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance nodes,” CENTCOM said.

“Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small craft” at the three warships, but none were hit, the US military's Central Command said in a message posted on X.

The US military leadership added that Iran launched these attacks while three US Navy destroyers – Truxtun, Peralta and Mason – were transiting the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman.

“CENTCOM does not seek to escalate the conflict, but remains positioned and ready to protect US forces,” the US military said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what impact this turn of events would have on the truce that ended last month, but US Central Command described the attacks as self-defense.

Earlier, Iran's Joint Military Command claimed the US violated the ceasefire by attacking an Iranian oil tanker and another ship entering the Strait of Hormuz, as well as striking civilian areas.

It is not the first time the two sides have engaged in firefights since the fragile ceasefire came into force.

On Monday, the US military said it had destroyed six small Iranian boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones, as it claimed Tehran was trying to thwart the US Navy's efforts to reopen maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington was still waiting for Iran's response to the latest US proposal to end the fighting, but it would leave the most contentious issues, notably Iran's nuclear program, unresolved for now.

The US proposal would formally end the large-scale conflict interrupted by the cease-fire announced on April 7. But it does not address key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear activities and reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which before the war handled a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

3 US Navy destroyers around Hormuz targeted by Iranian missile fire

Iran opened fire in retaliation for “an attack on an Iranian oil tanker by the US military,” state broadcaster IRIB announced earlier Thursday evening, shortly after it reported explosions on Iran's Qeshm island in the Strait of Hormuz.

Three US warships were forced to withdraw after being damaged by Iranian missile strikes, Tehran media reported.

“Enemy units in the strait were targeted by Iranian missiles and forced to flee after sustaining damage,” the IRIB news station reported, citing an unidentified military official.

The semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim wrote that three American destroyers near the Strait of Hormuz were the target of the attack launched by the Iranian navy.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Wednesday, the US military announced that it had struck an Iranian-flagged oil tanker that was trying to sail to an Iranian port. US forces warned the Iranian-flagged and unladen tanker M/T Hasna that it was violating the US-imposed naval blockade, but the crew “did not comply”, so a US F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft “disabled the ship's rudder by firing several projectiles with its 20 mm cannon”, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.

“Hasna is no longer bound for Iran,” CENTCOM said Wednesday, adding that “the U.S. blockade against vessels attempting to enter or leave Iranian ports remains in effect.”

It was the second time the US military fired on a ship it says tried to defy the blockade that has been in place since April 13.