US Central Command confirmed that American military forces carried out defensive strikes against Iranian missile and drone launch sites in southern Iran on May 7-8. The operation targeted military infrastructure after Iranian forces launched unprovoked missile and drone attacks against three US Navy guided-missile destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
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What happened in the Strait of Hormuz
The strikes came after Iranian forces targeted three US Navy destroyers: the USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87). All three ships were transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply flows daily.
CENTCOM stated that US forces struck missile launch sites, drone launch sites, and command-and-control locations in southern Iran. The military framed the operation explicitly as self-defense, not escalation.
