Guided-missile destroyer USS Truxtun transits the Atlantic Ocean in this undated photo. U.S. Central Command on Monday denied reports that Truxtun and another destroyer, USS Mason, had been attacked by Iranian forces earlier this week. (Bryan Valek/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — Two Navy destroyers repelled a barrage of Iranian air and surface attacks this week to safely cross the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf, according to a news report.
The USS Truxtun and USS Mason, supported by Apache helicopters and other aircraft, faced Iranian missiles, drones and small fast-attack boats Monday in a coordinated attack, CBS News reported, citing unidentified U.S. officials.
Defensive measures underpinned by air support deterred each threat during the sustained attack, according to the CBS report.
Neither Truxton nor Mason was struck during the assault, contrary to Iranian state media reports that said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had hit an unidentified U.S. warship with two missiles.
That claim is false, U.S. Central Command said in a post to X, adding that “no U.S. ships have been struck.”
American forces continue to support Project Freedom, the U.S.-led initiative to protect commercial vessels transiting the strait, and enforce the blockade against Iranian ports, CENTCOM said.
The news came as CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper told reporters during a call Monday that U.S. forces had defeated multiple Iranian attacks targeting commercial vessels and some Navy ships in the strait, a vital artery through which 20% of the oil and petroleum products consumed worldwide travels.
Apache and Seahawk helicopters were used in the sinking of six small Iranian boats, Cooper said of U.S. military operations on Monday.
In turn, the IRGC denied that any of its vessels had been hit, saying five people were killed in U.S. attacks on two small cargo boats, the Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported Tuesday.
Cooper wouldn’t say whether the mutual attacks brought an end to a ceasefire in effect since April 8.
But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that Iran’s actions had fallen below a threshold marking a ceasefire violation. The Iranian attacks were expected and the U.S. had defended against them aggressively, he said.
President Donald Trump will decide whether any further action by Iran rises to the level of a violation, Hegseth said during a Pentagon briefing with reporters. He advised Iran to be “prudent” in keeping its actions under that threshold.
Iran’s attacks included the United Arab Emirates, which said Iranian drones were behind a fire Monday in the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the country’s largest oil storage facility. It was the first such assault since the ceasefire began, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
Two people were injured by an attack in neighboring Oman, according to the Times report, which cited an Omani state news agency that did not say who was responsible.
Meanwhile, the Danish shipping and logistics company Maersk said Monday that one of its ships had transited the strait under U.S. military protection, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported.
“The transit was completed without incident, and all crew members are safe and unharmed,” Maersk said in a statement.
The vessel had been in the Persian Gulf since hostilities broke out Feb. 28, the statement said.
Stars and Stripes reporter Lara Korte in Germany contributed to this report.
