By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. military said on Monday it destroyed six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones fired by Tehran as it sought to thwart a new U.S. naval effort to open shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump launched the operation, called Project Freedom, on Monday as he sought to wrest control of the critical waterway from Iran after it effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. and Israel started the conflict on February 28.
U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, declined to comment on whether he thought a ceasefire begun on April 8 remained in effect as Iran lashed out in region, including with drone and missile attacks on the UAE on Monday.
But Cooper acknowledged ongoing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps efforts to “interfere” with Trump’s operation.
“The IRGC has launched multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats at ships we are protecting. We have defeated each and every one of those threats through the clinical application of defensive munitions,” he said.
Cooper said he “strongly advised” Iranian forces to remain well clear of U.S. military assets as Washington launches the operation, which he said involved 15,000 U.S. troops, U.S. Navy destroyers, over 100 land- and sea-based aircraft and undersea assets. “The U.S. commanders who are on the scene have all the authorities necessary to defend their units and to defend commercial shipping,” he said.
A South Korean ship was hit by an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, but Trump remarked in a social media post that the South Korean ship was not part of the operation and perhaps it should join U.S. efforts to protect ship movements near Iran. Trump estimated the U.S. had sunk seven Iranian fast boats.
The U.S. operation to unblock the Strait of Hormuz involved multiple steps, including first clearing a pathway of Iranian mines. The U.S. then proved the safety of the route earlier on Monday by sending two U.S. flagged commercial ships through the strait.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said no commercial vessels had crossed the strait in the past few hours, and that U.S. claims to the contrary were false. Iranian state media also denied reports that the U.S. had sunk Iranian vessels.
Cooper said the U.S. operation went beyond a traditional escorting mission. Instead, he said it was a larger, multi-layered defensive arrangement that included ships, helicopters, aircraft and even electronic warfare to defend against Iranian threats.
He said the Iranian fast boats were sunk by U.S. Apache and Seahawk helicopters.
“If you’re escorting a ship, you’re playing kind of one on one. I think we have a much better defensive arrangement in this process,” he said. “We have a much broader defensive package than you would have ever if you were just escorting.”
The operation is Trump’s latest effort to force an end to the disruption of international energy supplies caused by Iran’s blockade of the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.
Cooper said the U.S. military was encouraging vessels to travel through the passageway despite Iranian threats to use military force that have effectively left craft from 87 countries stranded in the Gulf.
“Over the last 12 hours, we’ve reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies to encourage traffic flow through the strait,” Cooper said.
“This news has been quite enthusiastically received, and we’re already beginning to see movement.”
Cooper said a U.S. blockade of Iran, which prevents ships from going to Iran or departing Iranian territory, also remained in effect and was exceeding expectations.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees AliEditing by Nick Zieminski, Joe Bavier and Cynthia Osterman)
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