US carries out new strikes in Iran against a military site and drones, official says
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: The US military carried out new strikes targeting an Iranian drone operation that posed a threat to US forces and commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a US official said, hours after President Donald Trump dismissed an Iranian report of a deal to restore traffic through the strategic waterway.
The US 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 US 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 US oil tanker that was trying to transit the strait, forcing it to turn back. The source said the US military then struck open ground around Bandar Abbas, with no casualties or damage reported. The US 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.
