New fighting has broken out this evening between the U.S. and Iran, even though President Donald Trump told ABC News that the strikes by the U.S. are “just a love tap,” and that the ceasefire is still in effect. U.S. Central Command claimed that Iran carried out an “unprovoked” missile, drone, and small-boat attack on three U.S. warships, and that, in “self-defense,” the U.S. targeted Iranian launch sites, command-and-control locations, and surveillance nodes.
Iran accused the U.S. of first violating the ceasefire by targeting an oil tanker that was inside Iran’s territorial waters. The IRGC Navy claimed that they inflicted “significant damage” on three U.S. warships which had violated the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM both asserts that the USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason were fired upon, but that no damage was inflicted. Fox News reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that the U.S. targeted Iran’s Qeshm port and Bandar Abbas, as well as the Bandar Kargan naval checkpoint in Minab.
Trump posted that Iran’s attackers “were completely destroyed, along with numerous small boats, which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated Navy…. Missiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air. They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!” A second post warned that he would strike Iran “a lot harder, and a lot more violently” unless Tehran signs a deal “fast.”
