Media reports two US destroyers cross Hormuz Strait, avoid Iranian attack
Washington (ANTARA) - Two United States Navy destroyers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf after avoiding an Iranian barrage, US media outlet CBS News reported on Monday evening.
The destroyer ships USS Truxtun and USS Mason, supported by several Apache helicopters and other aircraft, faced a series of coordinated threats while passing through the strait, the report stated, citing anonymous Pentagon officials.
No US warships were hit in the attack, even though Iran launched small boats, missiles, and drones towards them in a series of sustained assaults, according to the officials.
They stated that none of the projectiles launched by Iran reached the US ships, adding that this US military assistance effort, bolstered by air support, successfully intercepted or thwarted every incoming threat.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday that Iran is “softer” than before.
In a telephone interview with Fox News, Trump warned that if Iran targets US ships in the Strait of Hormuz, as the Pentagon begins operations to restore smooth commercial shipping in the strait, Iran will be “destroyed off the face of the Earth.”
However, in another telephone interview with ABC News on Monday, Trump did not explicitly state that Monday’s Iranian attack had violated the ceasefire between the US and Iran.
“[The attack] wasn’t a big shot,” Trump said, downplaying the intensity of the assault.
Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), had earlier on the same day told the media that Iranian forces had launched “several cruise missiles, drones, and small boats towards the ships we were protecting.”
US forces had sunk six Iranian small boats targeting civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz and intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones, Cooper revealed.
Iran later denied the US claims, stating that “no commercial ships or oil tankers” crossed the Strait of Hormuz, reported Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
On 28 February, the US and Israel launched combined strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing then-supreme leader Ali Khamenei, several senior military commanders, and civilians.
Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks towards Israel and US military targets in the Middle East, while also banning ships linked to Israel and the US from crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
The ceasefire came into effect on 8 April, followed by talks between Iranian and US delegations in Islamabad, Pakistan, which failed to produce an agreement.