United States fighter jets have attacked the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats. Explosions were heard near the port of Bandar Abbas. This attack occurred on Monday as US and Iranian negotiators arrived in Qatar in hopes of advancing stalled talks.
A series of explosions also occurred on land in Bandar Abbas, where an Iranian naval base is located.
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Al Jazeera journalist Ali Hashem reported on the situation, citing an Iranian official who said that the IRGC targeted an unidentified vessel after US jets struck IRGC boats. The source added that gunfire was heard near Bandar Abbas.
The initial attack on the Iranian vessels took place south of Larak Island, in the narrowest section of the Strait of Hormuz. This section of the vital waterway still remains firmly under a dual US-Iranian blockade. At least three Iranian sailors were killed, according to reports.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) later said in a statement that US forces had “conducted self-defense strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.” The statement added that the targets included missile sites and “Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines.” -RT
The US earlier said that it would respond to Iranian attacks on ships attempting to traverse the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait has been blockaded by Iran since the start of the war on February 28th, when the IRGC blocked passage for vessels from “unfriendly countries” after the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran.
An April 8th ceasefire agreement, while fragile, has mostly held, with wide scale bombong campigns on hold. The US and Iran are supposedly in negotiations, although those appear to be stalled at the moment. This attack by the US could be seen as a breach of the ceasefire, but it doesn’t appear that any large-scale war is going to break out again.
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