US Launches Self-Defense Strikes on Mine-Laying Boats in Southern Iran, CENTCOM says
The US military launched “self-defense strikes” against Iranian boats that were reportedly laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz Monday, according to Central Command.
CENTCOM spokesperson Capt. Tim Hawkins said US military “eliminated” two Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps boats that were seen setting mines in the strait, and also took out a surface-to-air missile site in Bandar Abbas, according to Fox News.
The missile site based at Iran’s primary naval station was reportedly targeting US warplanes, Hawkins said. He insisted that the “self-defense strikes” were conducted “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”
“U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Hawkins said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
The US strikes — and mine-laying efforts by the IRGC — are both violations of a tenuous cease-fire that appears on the cusp of being extended after a framework to end the Iran war surfaced following whirlwind negotiations over the weekend. (Read more from “US Launches Self-Defense Strikes on Mine-Laying Boats in Southern Iran, CENTCOM says” HERE)
