Four Iranian one-way attack drones were shot down and a military site near the southern port of Bandar Abbas was struck, the second time Washington has hit targets inside Iran in recent days, U.S. Central Command said. Centcom said its forces destroyed the Bandar Abbas launch site after detecting an imminent attempt to fire a fifth drone, and that the four drones had posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz. The command described the action as measured and defensive, aimed at protecting U.S. personnel and commercial shipping in a waterway that carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. Centcom said the strikes were intended to maintain the fragile ceasefire that negotiators have been trying to uphold while talks to end the three-month war continue.

The strikes were described by U.S. commanders as purely defensive, aimed at neutralising an immediate threat to regional shipping lanes and protecting personnel on the ground and at sea, Centcom said.

What happened

On Thursday, U.S. forces engaged a military site near Bandar Abbas after detecting preparations to launch a one-way attack drone, Centcom said. The command also reported shooting down four additional one-way attack drones that it said posed a direct threat around the Strait of Hormuz. Centcom characterised the strikes as measured and focused on eliminating an imminent danger rather than escalating the broader conflict.

Earlier this week, the United States carried out a separate set of strikes, Centcom said, targeting Iranian missile sites and boats it accused of attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. commanders framed that action in the same terms of self-defence, saying it was necessary to protect troops and to ensure freedom of navigation through a vital shipping lane.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded by saying it had shot down a U.S. drone and had fired on a fighter jet and another drone that entered Iranian airspace, though it didn't provide timing details for those claims. Tehran condemned the U.S. strikes as a grave violation of the ceasefire and warned of unspecified consequences, raising the prospect that what the United States calls limited exchanges could widen.

Regional ripple effects

The renewed exchanges have put markets and regional actors on edge. The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic chokepoint for global energy supplies, carrying roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas, a figure cited by the BBC.

Mastheads

Any further disruption in the waterway risks pushing energy prices higher and driving investors toward safe-haven assets, analysts say.

The Treasury in Washington has moved in parallel with the military actions. The U.S. Treasury announced sanctions on the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the Iranian body that has been collecting fees from ships transiting the waterway, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called the authority the "Iranian military's latest attempt to extort global maritime trade." The administration warned that vessels paying the authority risk exposure to U.S. penalties, an effort intended to deter Tehran from monetising maritime traffic.

Gulf states and regional militaries have reported heightened defensive activity. Kuwait’s army said on Thursday that its air defences were intercepting hostile missile and drone threats, without providing further detail. That cautious posture reflects concern that limited strikes could trigger a wider chain reaction across the Gulf, complicating efforts by Western diplomats to keep the ceasefire intact and to pursue negotiations to end the three-month war.

The recent U.S. military steps also complicate diplomatic channels that western envoys had been using to try to steady the situation.

The strikes follow a pattern of operations by Israel earlier in the conflict that have targeted Iranian facilities, and Western diplomats had been pursuing quiet diplomacy to prevent further escalation. Those avenues now face new strain because Tehran has said it reserves all options to defend itself and indicated it would consider diplomatic engagement only after any retaliatory moves are completed.

The U.S. emphasis in public messaging has been on deterrence and protection of commerce. Centcom repeatedly framed the actions as intended to keep the ceasefire in place while reducing immediate threats to shipping and to U.S. forces. Tehran, for its part, has framed the strikes as violations of the ceasefire and has warned of consequences that could widen the fighting and further disrupt maritime traffic through the Hormuz chokepoint.

Market reaction to the strikes was closely watched by traders and policymakers because of the strategic importance of the Strait. Any sustained pressure on shipments through the channel would have a material impact on global energy flows, and therefore on oil and gas prices. For now, however, the engagements remain limited in scale, even if they carry the risk of broader escalation that would force governments and energy companies to reassess supply routes and insurance costs.

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Centcom said the strikes were intended to preserve the fragile ceasefire while negotiators continue talks to end the three-month war. Originally reported by Reuters.

This article was created with AI assistance.