Iran claimed on Sunday that its forces targeted a US sea drone as it attempted to enter what it called a "restricted" area in the Strait of Hormuz, but the US military later denied Tehran's claim, as the standoff in the key waterway keeps escalating.
In a statement on Iranian state television, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed it launched an attack on an "unmanned surface vessel" off the south coast of Iran, saying that “the aggressor United States must understand that it has no choice but to leave the region and stop its acts of mischief.”
A spokesman for the US Central Command CENTCOM, which coordinates US military operations in the Middle East, later said the Iranian claim is "a total lie".
CENTCOM also announced on Sunday that the US military redirected 92 commercial vessels, disabled three, and boarded two others to "ensure strict compliance" with the US blockade of the Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Kingdom's Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) announced on Sunday that 59 ships have transited the strait over the last 48 hours.
