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Iranian forces launched a coordinated attack last Thursday using missiles, drones, and fast boats against three U.S. Navy destroyers that were passing through the Strait of Hormuz towards the Gulf of Oman, as confirmed by the U.S. Central Command in an official statement.
The attacked vessels were the USS Truxtun (DDG 103), the USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and the USS Mason (DDG 87). No U.S. assets were hit.
The Central Command responded with self-defense strikes against Iranian military facilities: missile and drone launch sites, command and control centers, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance nodes. Apache and Seahawk helicopters also sank six speedboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, as confirmed by Admiral Brad Cooper.
Iranian state media reported explosions near Bandar Abbas, Qeshm Island, and Bahman Pier, attributing them to American strikes. The Revolutionary Guard, however, denied losing any vessels and stated that five people were killed in attacks on two small cargo ships.
"The U.S. forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with defensive strikes," noted the statement from Central Command, which emphasized that the institution "does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect U.S. forces."
The incident represents the most direct military confrontation between both countries in the strait since the beginning of the crisis, and it comes just two days after Trump temporarily paused the Project Liberty following signs of diplomatic progress mediated by Pakistan.
That operation, initiated in early May, mobilized more than 15,000 military personnel, over 100 aircraft, and several destroyers to escort the stranded vessels in the Persian Gulf. Two destroyers had already crossed the strait under Iranian fire days earlier, in what the Pentagon described as a strictly defensive operation.
The background context is a sustained escalation following Operation Epic Fury, the joint attack by the United States and Israel on February 28, 2026, which decimated Iran's military capability and eliminated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In retaliation, Iran blocked the strait, leaving between 1,550 and 2,000 vessels and about 20,000 sailors stranded, and caused the price of Brent crude to soar from $67 to over $126 per barrel.
A direct precedent was the interception of the Iranian freighter M/V Touska on April 19 by the USS Spruance destroyer, when Marines boarded the vessel via helicopter. Iran described that episode as "maritime piracy" and a violation of the ceasefire, and threatened to regard any U.S. interference in the Strait as a casus belli.
In the diplomatic arena, Iran presented a 14-point peace plan proposing a 15-year pause on uranium enrichment, but Trump rejected it as "unacceptable" and demanded the total dismantling of the nuclear program along with a 20-year moratorium. Thursday's attack now threatens to completely derail those negotiations that Trump had described as promising just 48 hours prior.
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