The United States military carried out strikes on Iran's southern port facilities at Qeshm Island and Bandar Abbas on Thursday evening, a senior US official confirmed to a Fox News correspondent.
In addition to the confirmation, the official was quick to insist the operation did not mark a resumption of hostilities or the collapse of the fragile ceasefire.
The senior US official confirmed to Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin that the strikes targeted Iranian oil port facilities, while stressing it was "NOT a restarting of the war or end to the ceasefire."
The strikes on Iran ports came after US intercepted Iranian attacks targeting three Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz and carried out retaliatory self-defense strikes.
CENTCOM confirmed the retaliatory action in a statement, saying "US forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes as US Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman."
US President Trump addressed the confrontation directly on Truth Social. "Three World Class American Destroyers just transited, very successfully, out of the Strait of Hormuz, under fire. There was no damage done to the three Destroyers, but great damage done to the Iranian attackers," Trump wrote, adding that Iranian boats "went to the bottom of the Sea, quickly and efficiently."
Griffin provided context to the strikes in her post: the Qeshm and Bandar Abbas hits followed Iran's reported firing of 15 ballistic and cruise missiles at UAE's Fujairah Port two days prior — attacks that top Pentagon leaders had controversially described as not rising to the level of a ceasefire breach.
Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported that residents in Bandar Abbas heard several sounds resembling explosions originating from areas around the city. The exact source and location of the blasts remain undetermined.
Tasnim news agency also confirmed the sounds, citing local sources who suggested they may be linked to operations by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy.
ALSO READ: US, Iran Exchange Fire In Hormuz, Trump Threatens More Strikes If Deal Not Signed 'Fast'
The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world's seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the conflict, has been largely blocked since the U.S.-Israeli air campaign began on February 28.
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