Iran official says 10 sailors wounded, five missing after overnight clash with US
Iran claims 10 sailors wounded and five missing after US strikes on a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, despite a truce that was supposed to end the fighting.
Iranian officials reported Friday that a US strike hit an Iranian cargo vessel near Minab in the Strait of Hormuz overnight, wounding 10 sailors and leaving five missing. The clash occurred despite a truce in place since April 8 that was meant to pause weeks of conflict between the two nations.
Mohammad Radmehr, an official in southern Hormozgan province, told Mehr news agency that during "the Americans' aggressive actions last night in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Makran Sea," the vessel caught fire. Ten injured sailors were transferred to hospital, while local search teams hunt for the five others whose fate remains unknown.
US Central Command offered a starkly different version: Iranian forces launched missiles, drones, and small boats at three American warships, none of which were hit. American forces then destroyed the threats and struck back at land bases inside Iran. The sequence raises the obvious question of who actually violated the truce first.
Iran's military claimed its targeting of the US ships came only after American forces hit "an Iranian oil tanker" departing coastal waters and another vessel entering the Strait of Hormuz opposite the UAE port of Fujairah. The competing narratives expose how fragile any pause in hostilities remains in one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
It was not immediately clear whether the cargo vessel was deliberately targeted or simply caught in the crossfire. The absence of independent verification leaves both sides free to cast themselves as the aggrieved party while the real cost, measured in missing sailors and burning ships, continues to mount.
What happens when the next Iranian missile or American retaliatory strike lands will test whether the April truce was ever more than a temporary breathing spell.
Original reporting: The Times of India.
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