U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers transit the Strait of Hormuz during heightened tensions with Iran in a photo released by U.S. Central Command on May 7, 2026. Photo courtesy CENTCOM.<\/p>\n
U.S. Confirms Iranian Attack on U.S. Navy Destroyers in Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
Three U.S. Navy destroyers came under missile, drone and small-boat attack while transiting the<\/p>\n
on Thursday, according to U.S. Central Command.<\/p>\n
In a statement released Thursday morning, CENTCOM said Iranian forces launched \u201cmultiple missiles, drones and small boats\u201d at<\/p>\n
USS Truxtun (DDG-103)<\/p>\n
USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115)<\/p>\n
as the warships transited the strategic waterway into the Gulf of Oman. The U.S. military said no American vessels were hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cU.S. forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,\u201d CENTCOM said, adding that American forces targeted Iranian missile and drone launch sites, command-and-control facilities, and intelligence and surveillance nodes involved in the attack.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump later described the confrontation in dramatically more aggressive terms, claiming Iranian attacking forces were \u201ccompletely destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMissiles were shot at our Destroyers, and were easily knocked down,\u201d Trump wrote on social media. \u201cLikewise, drones came, and were incinerated while in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump also claimed numerous Iranian small boats \u201cwent to the bottom of the Sea, quickly and efficiently,\u201d while warning Tehran that the United States would respond \u201ca lot harder, and a lot more violently\u201d if Iran does not quickly agree to a broader deal tied to its nuclear program.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur three Destroyers, with their wonderful Crews, will now rejoin our Naval Blockade, which is truly a \u2018Wall of Steel,\u2019\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n
The incident represents a sharp escalation in the Hormuz crisis and one of the clearest publicly acknowledged naval clashes yet between U.S. and Iranian forces.<\/p>\n
Project Freedom Paused<\/p>\n
The clash comes only days after the Trump administration launched \u201c<\/p>\n
,\u201d a U.S.-backed effort to help guide stranded commercial vessels out of the Persian Gulf through an enhanced security corridor in Omani waters. After evacuating two U.S.-flagged ships via Hormuz, President Trump<\/p>\n
abruptly paused the operation<\/p>\n
less than 48 hours after its launch, but the broader U.S. naval blockade targeting Iranian ports remains in place.<\/p>\n
Iran had repeatedly warned this week that any U.S. military intervention in the Strait of Hormuz would be treated as a violation of the fragile ceasefire framework that has loosely held since April. Iranian officials and state media earlier claimed U.S. warships had been struck near the Strait, allegations repeatedly denied by CENTCOM.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s exchange appears to be the first time the U.S. military has formally confirmed that American destroyers were directly targeted during a transit operation.<\/p>\n
The confrontation also underscores the widening gap between military messaging and political rhetoric surrounding the crisis.<\/p>\n
While Trump described Iranian forces as \u201clunatics\u201d and framed the clash as part of pressure on Tehran to sign a deal \u201cFAST,\u201d CENTCOM emphasized in its statement that it \u201cdoes not seek escalation\u201d and remains focused on protecting American forces and maintaining freedom of navigation through the international waterway.<\/p>\n
The Strait of Hormuz normally handles roughly one-fifth of global seaborne oil trade, but commercial traffic through the corridor remains largely paralyzed amid missile attacks, drone strikes, sea mine threats, and spiraling war-risk insurance costs.<\/p>\n
CMA CGM Ship Attacked<\/p>\n
The latest naval confrontation came as commercial shipping conditions in the region continued to deteriorate. French shipping giant CMA CGM confirmed Wednesday that its Malta-flagged containership<\/p>\n
struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz<\/p>\n
, injuring multiple crew members and damaging the vessel. The International Maritime Organization said eight seafarers were wounded in the attack, marking the 32nd reported shipping incident since the conflict erupted.<\/p>\n
Another CMA CGM vessel, the<\/p>\n
, successfully exited the Gulf this week after transiting along Oman\u2019s coastline south of Muscat.<\/p>\n
Shipping Warns Crisis Far from Over<\/p>\n
Industry group have repeatedly warned that commercial operators are unlikely to resume normal transits until security conditions stabilize and undersea threats are fully cleared.<\/p>\n
BIMCO, the world\u2019s largest shipping association, said Wednesday that the Trump administration\u2019s abrupt decision to pause \u201cProject Freedom\u201d has<\/p>\n
complicated already difficult risk calculations<\/p>\n
for ships and crews attempting to leave the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n
In comments to gCaptain earlier this week, BIMCO Chief Safety & Security Officer Jakob Larsen said the short-lived U.S. escort initiative briefly enabled a small number of vessels to transit safely, but stressed that voyages through the Strait of Hormuz without coordination with Iran still carried \u201csignificant risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Larsen added that sudden policy shifts and operational changes create additional challenges for commercial operators trying to assess security conditions and plan departures from the Gulf.<\/p>\n
Iranian Tanker Disabled<\/p>\n
The naval clash also came less than 24 hours after U.S. forces<\/p>\n
disabled an Iranian-flagged tanker<\/p>\n
in the Gulf of Oman as part of Washington\u2019s expanding blockade enforcement campaign.<\/p>\n
According to CENTCOM, a U.S. Navy F\/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS<\/p>\n
fired 20mm cannon rounds at the tanker<\/p>\n
after the vessel allegedly ignored repeated warnings while attempting to transit toward an Iranian port in violation of the blockade.<\/p>\n
The incident followed a similar April interdiction involving the Iranian-flagged<\/p>\n
and underscored that, despite the temporary suspension of \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d the broader U.S. naval blockade targeting Iranian maritime trade remains fully active.<\/p>\n
The continuing violence is also taking a growing human toll on the thousands of seafarers still trapped inside the Gulf region.<\/p>\n
In interviews published Thursday, Indian sailors stranded for weeks aboard vessels near Iranian ports described nightly missile and drone strikes, food shortages, and fears they would never make it home.<\/p>\n
\u201cAround 10 to 20 missiles struck every night. No one could sleep,\u201d Indian seafarer Tithi Chiranjeevi told Reuters after escaping Iran via Iraq, Armenia and Dubai.<\/p>\n
The Joint Maritime Information Centre estimates roughly 2,000 vessels remain trapped near the Strait of Hormuz, where normal traffic has collapsed since the conflict began. At least three Indian seafarers have reportedly been killed in the crisis so far, underscoring mounting warnings from industry groups and the IMO that civilian crews are increasingly caught on the front lines of the conflict.<\/p>\n