*3 US Warships Fended off Iranian Missile, Drone Attacks, CENTCOM Says.
*The U.S. military described the incident as an unprovoked attack, while Iranian military officials claimed the U.S. side attacked first.
Donald Trump has said that “numerous” Iranian boats are at “the bottom of the sea” after both the US and Iran claimed to have fired at one another in the Strait of Hormuz.In a Truth Social post, Trump said “great damage” had been done to the “Iranian attackers”, but insisted three US warships had transited out of the strait “successfully” and without damage. Trump also warned Tehran that the US will “knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST”.
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It comes after the US military said its forces intercepted “unprovoked Iranian attacks” and responded with self-defence strikes targeting launch sites in Iran. Tehran had earlier said it was attacking US military vessels, “reportedly inflicting significant damage on them”, in response to what it said was a ceasefire violation by Washington. Prior to his latest Truth Social post, Donald Trump reportedly called the US strikes on Thursday “a love tap”. Speaking to ABC News, Trump also claimed the ceasefire, which Tehran accused the US of violating, had not ended. “The ceasefire is going. It’s in effect,” the US president said in a phone call with the outlet. Trump also said the US is negotiating with Iran despite the two sides claiming to have fired at one another in and around the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday. The US president said Tehran and Washington were still negotiating, but claimed Iran is “really at the end of the line”. Trump said: “The plan is very simple. Iran can not have a nuclear weapon, it cannot have a nuclear bomb and it’s not going to have [one]. They’ve agreed to that, let’s see if they are willing to sign it.”
Despite the attacks in the strait, Trump has insisted the ceasefire remains in effect but has threatened to strike “a lot more violently” if Iran does not sign a deal. Meanwhile, the Iranian Navy attacked three US destroyers in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, the Tasnim news agency said.According to its sources, US ships are currently moving towards the Gulf of Oman. No details are available about the damage inflicted to them. The destroyers were “attacked by missiles and kamikaze drones,” Tasnim noted.The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on May 7 that a trio of U.S. warships fended off a series of attacks from Iranian missiles, drones, and attack boats.CENTCOM said the guided-missile destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason were sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on May 7 when they came under attack.The U.S. military command said U.S. forces “eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes.”Written with reports from Sky News, TASS
