The destroyers of the US Navy around Hormuz, under missile attack, after the strike on the Iranian oil tanker Hasna, the press from Tehran announces
Naval units of the US Navy operating in the area of the Strait of Hormuz were targeted by Iranian missiles, launched in response to an attack by the US military on an Iranian oil tanker, Iran's state television IRIB reported on Thursday, citing a military official whose identity it did not reveal, Reuters and AFP write.
The Iranian media announcement came shortly after it reported explosions on the Iranian island of Qeshm located in the Strait of Hormuz.
American military ships were forced to withdraw after being damaged by Iranian missile strikes, Tehran's media also claimed.
“Enemy units in the strait were targeted by Iranian missiles and were forced to flee after suffering damage,” the IRIB news station quoted the unidentified military official as saying.
At the moment, it is not clear when the incident took place, Reuters notes.
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. The day before, the US military had announced that it had struck an Iranian-flagged oil tanker that was trying to sail to an Iranian port.
Wednesday's announcement by the U.S. Army
On Wednesday, US forces warned the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna tanker with no cargo on board 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 20mm cannon”, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on X.
“Hasna is no longer bound for Iran,” CENTCOM said, adding that “the US 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.
On April 19, another Iranian-flagged vessel, the M/V Touska, attempted to breach the blockade and ignored multiple warnings from a US destroyer, CENTCOM said at the time.
The American warship eventually ordered the crew to evacuate the engine room, at which it then fired several rounds.
Earlier this week, CENTCOM reported that more than 50 merchant ships “were forced to turn back from the road or return to port to comply” with the blockade.
