US warships enter Gulf as Hormuz operation launches: What to know
The US military sank six Iranian fast boats near the strait on Monday, raising questions as to the durability of the ceasefire.
WASHINGTON — The US military’s headquarters for the Middle East said on Monday that two US-flagged commercial vessels made it through the Strait of Hormuz unharmed thanks to a new naval operation to break Iran’s de facto blockade of the waterway.
The US Navy has been coaching commercial shipping personnel on safe navigation through the strait, which the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain acknowledged publicly on Monday has been mined by Iran.
“We've now opened a passage through the Strait of Hormuz to allow for the free flow of commerce to proceed,” the Pentagon’s top commander in the region, Adm. Brad Cooper, told reporters on Monday.
Cooper, who described the mission to open Hormuz as “inherently defensive,” said US AH-64 Apache and MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters had sunk six Iranian small boats on Monday that he said were threatening commercial shipping.
“Over the last 12 hours, Iran has interfered. 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,” he added.
An advisory sent out by the US Fifth Fleet’s headquarters earlier on Monday urged commercial ships seeking to transit the strait to hug the Omani coast and remain within that country’s territorial waters and to remain in radio contact with Omani authorities.
“Transit via or in close proximity” to the main shipping channel through Hormuz “should be considered extremely hazardous due to the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated,” the advisory read.
In a post on Truth Social Sunday night, Trump said the new US military operation — which he referred to as “Project Freedom” — would kick off mid-day on Monday, local Gulf time, to guide international commercial ships “safely out of these restricted waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.”
US Central Command said in a separate statement early on Monday that the US Navy sent at least two guided-missile destroyers through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf in preparation for the operation.
The destroyers’ presence in the Gulf marked the first time US warships have operated continuously in the waters beyond Hormuz since the US declared its counter blockade of Iran on April 13.
The warships involved in the operation are being aided by manned aircraft, surveillance drones and AH-64 Apache patrols that can relay intelligence on Iranian activity in and around the strait. More than 100 land- and sea-based aircraft are involved in the operation along with 15,000 US military personnel, CENTCOM said.
US military officials have thus far avoided specifying whether the operation will entail naval escorts for commercial ships. Officials say Iran still retains short-range ballistic missiles that can threaten vessels in and around Hormuz.
The USS Tripoli, carrying some 2,200 Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, and the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln remain outside the strait in the Arabian Sea, further afield of Iran’s precision-guided projectiles.
The navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is believed to retain several thousand fast boats around the strait. Trump said in a social media post last week that the US military would destroy any such Iranian vessels despite the current ceasefire.
Cooper on Monday said the IRGC’s capabilities in the strait had been “highly degraded.”
“The US commanders who are on the scene have all the authorities necessary to defend their units and to defend commercial shipping,” he said.
Last month, the Pentagon’s top-ranking officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, told reporters that US strikes had destroyed roughly half of Iran’s fast-attack boats prior to the ceasefire announced on April 8.
Commercial shipping traffic via the strait dropped last week to its lowest levels since the war began, according to maritime shipping data assessed by London-based Lloyds’ List.
“Many of these ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for large-scale crews to stay on board in a healthy and sanitary manner,” Trump said in his post.
As of Monday, there was little sign that the new naval patrols and rebranded information-sharing effort by the US Navy had restored faith among commercial shipping companies about the safety of the strait.
Just after Trump’s announcement on Sunday, the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of targeting an empty crude oil tanker from the Emirati state petroleum company ADNOC. South Korea’s government said it suspected, but did not confirm, that a South Korean-flagged cargo ship had been attacked.
Earlier on Sunday, the UK Maritime Trade Organization reported a bulk carrier had been attacked by “multiple small craft” 11 nautical miles west of Sirik, Iran. The ship departed the area with all crew reported safe, the group said.
Iranian state media said Monday the country’s military had warned US Navy ships attempting to enter the strait before firing drones and missiles at them. Iran’s IRGC-linked Fars News claimed one US warship had been hit by a missile and forced to turn back. CENTCOM denied any US warships had been hit by missiles while crossing the strait.
In his Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump claimed US officials “are having very positive discussions with the country of Iran, and that these discussions could lead to something very positive for all.” The president said last Friday that he was “not satisfied” with Iran’s latest proposal to end the war.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on China Monday to pressure Tehran to open the strait.
“I would urge the Chinese to join us in supporting this international operation,” Bessent told Fox News. “We are expecting our international partners to engage in the same thing," he added. "We have absolute control of the strait.”
No US allies have publicly confirmed participation in the naval support mission.
