U.S. forces shot down multiple Iranian ballistic missiles and drones and carried out self-defense strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said, after Tehran launched a wave of attacks across the region that failed to hit their targets.

In a statement, CENTCOM said Iran fired several ballistic missiles at neighboring countries but that none struck their intended targets. Two missiles aimed at Kuwait fell short or broke apart in flight, the command said, while three missiles launched at Bahrain were intercepted by U.S. and Bahraini air defenses. Moments earlier, CENTCOM said, American forces downed three one-way attack drones that Iran had directed at civilian mariners transiting regional waters.

U.S. forces also conducted self-defense strikes on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island, an Iranian island near the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, according to the command. No U.S. personnel were harmed. CENTCOM said its forces remain vigilant and ready to defend against Iranian aggression during the ongoing ceasefire.

The announcement followed reports of explosion-like sounds near Qeshm early Wednesday local time. Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency cited local sources and residents, and Iranian authorities did not release details on casualties or damage.

Kuwait’s armed forces had earlier said their air defenses were responding to hostile missile and drone threats and warned that any explosions heard were the result of interception efforts. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed three missiles struck the Gulf country, a claim not borne out by the U.S. account that the missiles failed to reach their targets. Iranian state-linked sources have said the attacks were aimed at U.S. military installations in Kuwait.

The exchange came hours after a U.S. strike on commercial shipping. CENTCOM said Tuesday that the Botswana-flagged tanker M/T Lexie was transiting international waters toward Kharg Island, one of Iran’s main oil export terminals, when American forces intercepted it. The command said the crew ignored repeated warnings over a 24-hour period before a U.S. aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into its engine room. Officials said the tanker was unladen and carrying no cargo at the time.

The strike was the latest enforcement action under a U.S.-imposed maritime blockade. The blockade began April 13, and American forces have since disabled six commercial vessels and redirected 122 others, according to CENTCOM. The seaport at Kharg Island handles up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports.

Unconfirmed reports also described missile and drone activity directed at Erbil in northern Iraq. The accounts could not be independently verified, and officials had not confirmed them.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally flows, has kept global energy prices elevated for more than three months. The latest attacks came as Iranian and U.S. negotiators signaled that talks were continuing, even as both sides traded strikes.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)