The U.S. used attack helicopters to blow up the small boats and intercept the drones, according to Adm. Brad Cooper. He said in a call Monday that U.S. Navy ships were protecting U.S. commercial vessels transiting the strait, as part of President Donald Trump’s new mission to guide stranded vessels through the critical waterway.
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Cooper would not address whether this meant the U.S.-Iran ceasefire that began April 8 was now over. Iran and the U.S. each denied there had been any damage done to their vessels, as both nations appeared to play down the military activity in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I wouldn’t go into details of the whether the ceasefire is over or not,” Cooper said. “I think the key thing is for us is we’re merely there as a defensive force and enforce, to give a very thick layer of defense to commercial shipping to allow them to proceed out of the Arabian Gulf.”
But Cooper said Iran was “initiating aggressive behavior.”
The regime launched “multiple cruise missiles” at U.S.-flagged ships in the Strait, and at the U.S. Navy ships that were protecting the commercial vessels, Cooper said.
Iran claimed to have struck an American warship, but Central Command said no ship was hit. Iran also denied the U.S. sank any of its boats, according to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
Over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates said Iran had launched missiles at the country for the first time since a ceasefire was declared a month ago. Iranian state media reported it had no plans to target the UAE.
And the South Korean government also said an explosion and fire had occurred on a South Korean-operated cargo ship.
In a post Monday, Trump didn’t acknowledge Iran had targeted any U.S.-flagged vessels.
“We’ve shot down seven small Boats or, as they like to call them, “fast” Boats. It’s all they have left. Other than the South Korean Ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait,” he wrote.
Trump announced Sunday that beginning on Monday the U.S. military would help free ships that have been “locked up” and unable to pass through the key trade route amid the maritime standoff between Tehran and Washington.
Cooper said that multiple Navy-guided missile destroyers are operating in the Gulf, helping commercial shipping and providing air defenses with their helicopters.
Iran signaled an aggressive response to this latest bid to break its stranglehold over the strait, which has left global shipping at an effective standstill and sent energy prices spiraling.
Tehran issued a new map and a flurry of statements that sought to reassert its control. Early Monday, it claimed to have stopped U.S. destroyers from entering the strait.
After the U.S. warships ignored several radio warnings, Iran fired cruise missiles, rockets and combat drones near them, army public relations said in a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Two U.S.-flagged merchant vessels had successfully transited through the strait “as a first step” in Trump’s new mission, Central Command said.
The U.S. said that 15,000 service members, guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land and sea-based aircraft and multidomain unmanned platforms are involved in the new operation.
Trump announced the effort in a lengthy TruthSocial post Sunday. The U.S. would guide ships from countries not involved in the Middle East crisis safely out of the strait, “so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” he said.
It said vessels should consider routing via Oman territorial waters as usual routes should be considered “extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.”
Iran’s navy shared a new map of what it said was the area of the strait under its control, though it was not clear whether this represented any change.
Passage must be carried out in coordination with Tehran, its military command cautioned. “We warn that any foreign armed force, especially the aggressive military of America, should they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be subjected to attack,” Major General Pilot Ali Abdollahi said in a statement carried by state TV channel IRIB.
Maritime movements that are inconsistent with Tehran’s “declared principles” will face serious risks, said Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Hundreds of ships and thousands of crew members have been stranded in the area since Iran launched attacks and threatened shipping in the wake of the joint U.S.-Israeli assault more than two months ago.
Many of them are running low on food and other necessities, Trump said, calling his move to free them up a “humanitarian gesture” by the U.S.
Two other ships were attacked in the strait this weekend, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said.
Trump’s announcement was done without industry coordination, leaving shipping companies scrambling for details, industry figures said.
“The overall security situation for the shipping industry is currently unchanged,” Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer with shipping association BIMCO, told NBC News in an email Monday.
He questioned whether Trump’s plan was sustainable longer term and said it risked “hostilities breaking out again.”
With peace talks stalled, energy prices have been rising.
Oil prices climbed slightly overnight, and the international benchmark Brent crude jumped further to above $110 a barrel after the dueling claims of the Iranian and U.S. Navy. The national average gas price in the U.S. continued to rise, hitting $4.46.
Neither side has offered much optimism about a deal to end the war, but Tehran said Monday it was reviewing the latest U.S. counterproposal.
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