WASHINGTON — U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged large-scale strikes Thursday in the middle of a month-old, fragile ceasefire, even as the two countries continued negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and lift a naval blockade.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that Iran targeted three U.S. destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz with missiles, drones and small boats. In response, U.S. forces struck Iranian missile and drone launch sites, command centers and surveillance facilities.
Iran blamed Washington for the clashes. Its military said the United States broke the ceasefire first on Wednesday by opening fire on an Iranian oil tanker heading toward the Strait of Hormuz. Iran said it attacked U.S. warships in retaliation.
President Donald Trump, in a post on social media, said the three U.S. destroyers came under attack but transited the strait without damage.
Trump said U.S. forces destroyed Iranian missiles and drones with ease. Calling Iran’s leadership “crazy,” he warned that harsher strikes would follow if Tehran did not quickly sign an agreement. Even so, he told reporters the ceasefire remained “intact.”
According to Iranian media and social media reports, large explosions were heard on Iran’s Qeshm island, in Bandar Abbas and in the capital Tehran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accused the United States of violating the ceasefire with the strikes. Officials from the two countries are negotiating a one-page proposal for a 30-day pause in hostilities and an end to the naval blockade, but disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program and uranium stockpile remain the main obstacle. The conflict has disrupted global energy supplies and pushed oil prices to abnormal highs.
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