TEHRAN/WASHINGTON, May 8– Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Thursday night the U.S. army attacked two Iranian vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and concurrently carried out airstrikes on civilian areas in southern Iran in cooperation with some regional states.
The attacks by the U.S. “aggressive and terrorist” army violated the ceasefire between Iran and the United States, said Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the headquarters’ spokesman, according to Iranian media.
One of the targeted vessels was an oil tanker sailing from Iran’s territorial waters near Jask toward the Strait of Hormuz, while the other was entering the waterway near Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, Zolfaghari said, adding that the targeted civilian areas included Bandar-e Khamir and Sirik, both in Hormozgan province.
He noted that Iran’s armed forces immediately retaliated by attacking U.S. military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of Iran’s Chabahar port, causing significant damage.
He warned that Iran would give a crushing response to any aggression without any hesitation.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps Navy said early Friday that Iranian forces carried out a “large-scale and precise combined operation” using ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and explosive drones targeting U.S. destroyers.
It added that intelligence assessments indicated “significant damage” to U.S. vessels, prompting three destroyers to retreat from the Strait of Hormuz area.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement that U.S. forces intercepted “unprovoked Iranian attacks” and responded with self-defense strikes as their Navy ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM added that it “does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces.”
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that no damage was done to the three world-class American destroyers that just transited out of the Strait of Hormuz.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said Iran suffered great damage and threatened that future attacks would be “a lot harder, and a lot more violent.”
Meanwhile, Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin quoted a senior U.S. official saying that the U.S. military carried out strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Port and Bandar Abbas, but added that it was not a restarting of the war or an end to the ceasefire.
Earlier, Trump announced that Project Freedom, the U.S. military operation to guide commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, would be paused to see whether a peace deal could be reached with Tehran.
Trump said the decision was based on the request of Pakistan and other countries, as well as the “great progress … made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
The project lasted for less than 48 hours before being suspended. (Namibia Daily News/ Xinhua)
