Key facts
- US military aircraft shot down at least four Iranian drones on Friday.
- The drones were heading toward the Strait of Hormuz and posed an imminent threat to maritime traffic.
- The US military struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in response.
- US Central Command denied previous Iranian claims of firing warning shots at US Navy destroyers.
The U.S. military shot down at least four Iranian one-way attack drones on Friday that were heading toward the Strait of Hormuz and posed an imminent threat to maritime traffic, according to the U.S. Central Command (Centcom). The U.S. military subsequently struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk, a city in Hormozgan. This incident follows previous denials by U.S. Central Command of Iranian claims that Iran had fired warning shots and drones at U.S. Navy destroyers. The Iranian Foreign Minister had previously indicated that peace talks had not achieved tangible progress and warned that U.S. bases in the region were legitimate targets. In the two months prior to this incident, American forces had recorded approximately 1,000 commercial vessel transits in and out of the Strait of Hormuz.