The U.S. military carried out new strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation that posed a threat to U.S. forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said, hours after President Donald Trump dismissed an Iranian report of a deal to restore traffic through the strategic waterway.
The U.S. official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about military operations, told Reuters on Wednesday the military shot down four Iranian attack drones and struck a ground control station in the port city of Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone. A ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran took effect in early April.
“These actions were measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire,” the official said.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency cited a military source as saying that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy fired toward a U.S. oil tanker that was trying to transit the strait, forcing it to turn back. The source said the U.S. military then struck open ground around Bandar Abbas, with no casualties or damage reported.
Iranian media later reported that a military official said four vessels had tried to transit the strait early on Thursday, only to be turned back by warning shots fired in their direction.
The U.S. military also carried out strikes in southern Iran on Monday, in what it described as defensive action but which Iran said was a “gross violation” of their ceasefire.
Oil prices, having fallen more than 5% on Wednesday, rebounded after Reuters reported the new strikes. U.S. crude futures gained close to 2% to $90.38 a barrel in early Asian trade on Thursday.
TRUMP SAYS NO COUNTRY TO CONTROL STRAIT
At a cabinet meeting attended by media on Wednesday, Trump dismissed an Iranian state TV report that it had obtained an unofficial draft of an agreement to restore commercial shipping through the strait to prewar levels within a month, with Iran and Oman jointly managing traffic.
Trump said no single country would have control over the waterway, and appeared to threaten Oman, a country with which the U.S. has decades-long military and economic ties.
“Nobody’s going to control (the strait),” Trump said. “It’s international waters and Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that, they’ll be fine.”
The White House and Oman’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.
The U.S. Treasury Department later added the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the Iranian body set up to manage passage through the strait, to a list of sanctioned people and entities seen as posing threats to U.S. national security.
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