The United States military has dismissed a claim by the Iranian government that it hit an American warship with two missiles on Monday morning, causing it to “turn back and flee”.
Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. military formation responsible for operations in the Middle East, moved to dispel a claim by Iran that it had landed a blow on one of its warships on Monday morning. The unequivocal response from CENTCOM noted the assertion of a successful attack on a U.S. warship and stated: “No U.S. Navy ships have been struck. U.S. forces are supporting Project Freedom and enforcing the naval blockade on Iranian ports.”
On Monday morning, Iran’s Fars News Agency — state media closely associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — reported “two missiles have struck a US Navy frigate in the regional waters”. This caused the ship to “turn back and flee the area”, they claimed.
Iran claimed the ship was off the port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman at the time of their attack and it had been on course to attempt a transit of the Strait of Hormuz, and that the attack had been launched after ignoring Iranian warnings to turn back.
President Trump announced Project Freedom on Sunday, a humanitarian mission to guide merchant ships through the Strait of Hormuz for the good of “neutral and innocent bystanders” and the world economy.
The denial of the strike is just the latest such message from CENTCOM since the commencement of Operation Epic Fury in February, through which Iran and Iran-linked groups has persistently made significant claims about hitting and even destroying U.S. warships, including its aircraft carriers. Meanwhile, CENTOM has spent recent days highlighting the morale tour of the four-star leading the command to the ships involved in the region.
Amid the visits by Admiral Bradley Cooper was a flight over the region “near the Strait of Hormuz” in an AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship, visiting sailors aboard the DDG69 USS Milius, and aboard LHA7 USS Tripoli.
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