The US military said it carried out retaliatory strikes on Iran on Thursday, targeting sites it said were responsible for attacking US forces in what it called unprovoked hostilities by Tehran.
Earlier, Iran’s top joint military command said the US had violated a ceasefire by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship entering the Strait of Hormuz, and by striking civilian areas.
“US Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking US forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes,” the military said in a statement.
It added Iran had launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as three US Navy destroyers, the Truxtun, Peralta and Mason, transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman.
No US military assets were hit by the Iranians, the US military said.
“CENTCOM does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces,” the statement said.
“Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers,” US President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
“They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats,” he said.
Trump told ABC News that the ceasefire with Iran remained in place despite new strikes, according to an ABC reporter on X.
Iranian state media on Thursday also reported loud noises and defensive fire in western Tehran. In southern Iran, explosions were heard near Bandar Abbas, semiofficial Iranian news agencies said. The reports from the Fars and Tasnim agencies did not identify the source of the blasts.
It was not immediately clear what impact this would have on a ceasefire reached last month but US Central Command described the strikes as being carried out in self-defence.
This is not the first time the two sides have exchanged fire since the ceasefire started.
On Monday, the US military said it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as Tehran sought to thwart a US naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Washington was still awaiting Iran’s response to a US proposal that would stop the fighting but leave the most contentious issues, such as Iran’s nuclear programme, unresolved for now.
The proposal would formally end the conflict in which full-scale warfare was paused by a ceasefire announced on April 7.
However it does not address key US demands that Iran suspend its nuclear work and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz which, before the war, handled one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply.
Additional reporting by Associated Press