DEVELOPING STORY,

US military says it intercepted and responded to ‘unprovoked’ Iranian attack, stressing that it doesn’t seek escalation.

The Iranian military has said it retaliated against United States Navy ships after US forces targeted an oil tanker in Iran’s territorial waters, a major escalation that puts further strain on the fragile truce between Washington and Tehran.

Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters added on Thursday that the US also violated the ceasefire by carrying out air strikes on civilian areas, including Qeshm Island, “in cooperation with some regional countries”, without identifying them.

“The American aggressor, terrorist and bandit army, violating the ceasefire, targeted an Iranian oil tanker,” the statement said.

The statement also claimed that the Iranian response caused “significant damage” to US ships.

“The criminal and aggressor America and its supporting countries should know that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as powerfully as in the past, will give a crushing response to any aggression without the slightest hesitation,” the Iranian military said.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said Iranian forces used “various types of ballistic and antiship cruise missiles and destructive drones with high-explosive warheads” in response to the US violations of the truce.

But the Central Command (CENTCOM) of the US military said it “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks” and responded with “self-defence strikes”.

“No US assets were struck,” it said.

CENTCOM added that it “does not seek escalation but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces”.

The clashes represent the first military Iranian response to the US blockade of the country’s ports. Over the past weeks, the US military has seized several Iranian vessels and ordered dozens more to turn around.

The naval siege has been the spearhead of Trump’s pressure campaign against Iran since the ceasefire came into effect last month.

Several Iranian state-affiliated news outlets reported that blasts were heard at the ports of Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas and the southern coastal city of Minab.

Iran’s semiofficial news agency Tasnim also cited a senior source as saying that three US Navy destroyers came under Iranian fire and fled towards the Gulf of Oman.

The skirmishes come amid reports that Washington and Tehran are in advanced talks to end the war.

Earlier this week, US President Donald Trump ordered an operation to break Iran’s blockade on Hormuz, leading to heightened tensions that pushed the ceasefire to the brink.

On Monday, the US said it shot down seven small Iranian drones, and Iran renewed its drone and missile attacks against the United Arab Emirates.