President Donald Trump threatened Monday that Iran would “be blown off the face of the earth” if U.S. vessels supporting ships through the Strait of Hormuz are attacked, sharply escalating his rhetoric as Washington and Tehran test a tenuous ceasefire after weeks of war.
U.S. military officials said Iran launched missiles, drones and small boats at ships sailing through the passage with U.S. support on Monday. Six small Iranian boats were targeting civilian vessels, according to officials.
“If Iranians continue to target commercial ships during the so-called Project Freedom escort operation, the Iranian regime will “be blown off the face of the earth,” Trump told Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst on Monday.
In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump said the United States had shot down seven Iranian boats after Tehran opened fire near vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. He said the U.S. had sustained no damage, though he said a South Korean cargo ship had been hit.
“Iran has taken some shots at unrelated Nations with respect to the Ship Movement, PROJECT FREEDOM, including a South Korean Cargo Ship. Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission! We’ve shot down seven small Boats or, as they like to call them, “fast” Boats. It’s all they have left. Other than the South Korean Ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait.”
The president’s comments came after U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Bradley Cooper said American forces had “blown up” six small Iranian boats in the strait.
The discrepancy between Trump’s figure of seven boats and Cooper’s figure of six was not immediately explained in the statements provided.
The confrontation comes amid a U.S.-led effort called “Project Freedom,” which CENTCOM has described as a mission to “support merchant vessels seeking to freely transit through” the Strait of Hormuz. The operation stops short of formal military escorts, according to Cooper.
CENTCOM said Sunday that the mission includes “guided-missile destroyers, over 100 land- and sea-based aircraft, multi-domain unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members.”
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