US strikes Iranian missile sites after drone hit cargo ship in Hormuz

U.S. aircraft struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites on Friday after a one-way attack drone hit the Singapore-flagged M/V Ever Lovely as it exited the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani coast. U.S. Central Command said the operation was a powerful response to the previous day’s attack on a commercial ship and said the Iranian attack clearly violated the ceasefire. CENTCOM also said its forces were continuing to provide safe-passage coordination and support for commercial vessels in the strait.

President Donald Trump said Iran launched at least four one-way attack drones at ships in the strait, one of which struck the upper deck of a cargo vessel, while U.S. forces shot down three others. He said the attack was a ceasefire violation just days after the United States and Iran reached an interim understanding that followed talks in Switzerland involving Vice President JD Vance and Iranian counterparts.

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy corridors, moving roughly a fifth of global oil and gas exports, and shipping in the waterway had only just begun to recover after weeks of conflict. A Joint Maritime Information Center report put the number at 80 facilitated transits through the waterway on Tuesday and Wednesday, plus 85 other vessel transits over the same two-day stretch, while the historical average is 138 transits per day.

Iranian state television showed an explosion near Taherouyeh pier in the southern port city of Sirik. Ebrahim Azizi, who heads the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said the Strait of Hormuz is governed by Iran and described the episode as “ceasefire management.”