The United States Central Command said Sunday afternoon it launched retaliatory strikes against Iran after Tehran attacked multiple Gulf states earlier Sunday and fired at vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“At 5 p.m. E.T today, U.S. Central Command forces began launching more strikes against Iran to continue degrading their ability to attack civilian mariners and commercial ships freely transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” according to a statement. “The Commander in Chief has directed the strikes to hold Iranian forces accountable.”
The announcement came after Tehran widened its attacks across the Gulf region earlier on Sunday, targeting Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, the U.A.E, and Jordan after the U.S. struck Iranian targets Saturday night in response to an Iranian missile attack on a Cyprus-flagged merchant vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
Shortly after the strikes were announced, a U.S. official told the New York Times to expect a “bigger” wave of attacks relative to the earlier strikes. Strikes were still being launched over three hours after the initial announcement, and a security guard was killed “after a projectile hit a water pumping station” in southwest Iran, according to CNN.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “fired at commercial shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz” soon after the announcement.
CENTCOM and Tehran offered contradictory messages about the status of the Strait of Hormuz earlier Sunday, with Iranian leaders claiming it was closed until further notice.
“FACT: Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTOM said Sunday morning. “It remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way.”
IRAN RETURNS TO NO-LIMITS GULF STATE TARGET LIST AFTER DECLARING STRAIT OF HORMUZ CLOSED
Oil prices rose in response to the attack.
On Sunday afternoon, CENTCOM also refuted a claim made by Iranian state media that three American soldiers were killed in the strikes on Kuwait. President Donald Trump has yet to comment on the most recent strikes.
