Washington — Three U.S. Navy destroyers transiting the Strait of Hormuz came under attack on Thursday, and the U.S. carried out strikes on two Iranian ports abutting the strait, putting into question an increasingly fragile monthlong ceasefire between the two countries.
The American destroyers USS Truxton, USS Mason and USS Rafael Peralta were attacked by Iranian missiles, drones and small boats, CBS News was first to report. The U.S. military’s Central Command confirmed the attacks in a statement and said the U.S. military responded with “self-defense strikes” on Iranian facilities, including drone and missile launch sites. The U.S. vessels were not struck, CENTCOM said.
The U.S. targeted the Iranian ports of Bandar Abbas and Qeshm, multiple U.S. officials told CBS News.
President Trump told ABC News the ceasefire is still in effect despite the strikes on Iranian targets, which he described as “just a love tap.”
Fox News was first to report the strikes on Qeshm and Bandar Abbas.
American officials described the Iranian onslaught on three destroyers as fiercer and more sustained than a separate Iranian barrage that two of the warships faced only days earlier.
The vessels came under an intense Iranian assault as swarms of Iranian fast-attack boats maneuvered close enough that American warships opened fire to keep them at bay, U.S. officials told CBS News under condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Over several hours, the American warships and supporting aircraft mounted a layered defense, firing their five-inch naval guns and their close-in weapon systems known as CIWS, officials said. Small-caliber gun teams on deck also engaged the attacking boats. American Apache helicopters fired Hellfire missiles, and .50-caliber machine guns were fired from the decks of the ships, as additional aircraft provided support overhead.
Iranian forces also launched drones and missiles during the confrontation, the officials said. As of publication, no casualties or damage to the ships was reported.
Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social that there was “great damage done to the Iranian attackers.”
“They dropped ever so beautifully down to the Ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave!” he wrote, referring to the U.S.’s efforts to shoot down Iranian drones.
On Monday, CBS News first reported that two of the same vessels — the USS Truxtun and USS Mason — transited the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian Gulf after navigating an Iranian barrage on Monday. During that engagement, Iran also launched small boats, missiles and drones against them in what officials described as a sustained barrage.
Despite the intensity of the attacks, neither U.S. vessel was struck earlier this week. CENTCOM said it destroyed six Iranian vessels on Monday, which Iran denied.
The incidents at sea mark some of the most direct known exchanges between the U.S. and Iran since the two countries entered into a ceasefire roughly one month ago, buying them time to negotiate a longer-term peace deal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters earlier this week the ceasefire is still in place, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S.’s initial operation against Iran — Operation Epic Fury — is over.
Despite the ceasefire, the U.S. and Iran have continued to vie for control over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil.
Commercial shipping traffic ground to a virtual halt after the U.S. and Israel first launched strikes on Iran in late February, causing global oil prices to surge and trapping hundreds of tankers in the Persian Gulf. Most ships have continued to avoid the strait during the ceasefire, as Iran warns vessels not to sail through without permission.
Mr. Trump has pushed Iran to reopen the strait, and has enforced a blockade on Iranian ports in an effort to hobble the country’s economy and pressure it into a deal.
On Monday, Mr. Trump launched a project to guide commercial ships through the strait, allowing two American vessels to sail through the waterway. But a day later, Mr. Trump suspended that initiative, called Project Freedom. He said the project was on pause to see if negotiations between the U.S. and Iran can lead to a peace agreement.
The president hasn’t given a timeline for negotiations with Iran, and no in-person talks have been announced.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump warned that “we’ll knock them out a lot harder, and a lot more violently, in the future, if they don’t get their Deal signed, FAST!”
