U.S. and Iran trade fire in Strait of Hormuz; each claims other shot first

U.S. Central Command in a statement said its forces “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes” as three U.S. Navy destroyers transited the strait late Thursday.

“Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats” as the U.S. ships were passing toward the Gulf of Oman, CENTCOM said. “No U.S. assets were struck.”

CENTCOM “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,” its statement said.

“CENTCOM does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces.”

Earlier, Iran accused the U.S. of violating the two countries’ fragile ceasefire by striking multiple targets in and around the strait, a central chokepoint in the ongoing war.

“The aggressive, terrorist, and bandit American army, violating the ceasefire, targeted an Iranian tanker that was moving from Iranian coastal waters” toward the strait, an Iranian military official said in a statement to state news outlets.

Iran’s armed forces “immediately retaliated by attacking US military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of Chabahar Port, causing significant damage to them,” the spokesperson said, according to a translation of the reported statement.

CENTCOM’s statement does not mention the ceasefire, which began on April 8 and had already been badly frayed by repeated accusations that its terms are being breached.

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on news of the strikes.

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