Iran army says fired ‘warning missiles’ at US destroyers in Gulf of Oman

Iran’s military announced on Friday that it had fired “warning missiles” at two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Oman, prompting the vessels to depart the area, according to state media.

The statement, released by the state news agency IRNA, said the destroyers left the Gulf following the firing of warning missiles by Iranian forces.

Iran’s military said the operation was a response to “maritime misconduct and harassment, as well as the hijacking of commercial vessels and oil tankers by the terrorist naval forces of the United States.”

The U.S. Central Command quickly denied that the incident had occurred.

“Iranian forces did NOT attack or fire at U.S. Navy warships. Doing so would be a gross violation of the ceasefire,” the U.S. statement added.

It also said its forces “continue to operate freely in regional waters” and were enforcing the U.S. counterblockade on Iranian ports.

This incident follows a ceasefire announced on April 8 that has largely halted hostilities between Iran, the United States, and Israel since the outbreak of war on February 28, when allied forces targeted Iran.

Attempts to end the war through direct and mediated talks have so far failed.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Washington was “no longer conducting sustained strikes” against Iran as Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. name for its attacks on Iran, was over.

He added that the United States had destroyed what Iran “had left of an air force” and had “wiped out their entire conventional navy.”

Since the onset of the war, Iran has imposed a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that connects the Gulf with the Indian Ocean.

The United States later established its own blockade of Iranian ports.

In peacetime, a fifth of the world’s oil passed through the chokepoint.

AFP

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