The U.S. military downed four Iranian drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday evening, marking the latest scuffle as the fragile ceasefire holds in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
“The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “U.S. forces subsequently struck Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island to defend against further attacks.”
CENTCOM said the drones were “one-way attack drones” and maintained that U.S. forces “remain vigilant and postured to respond to unjustified Iranian aggression in self-defense.” The Iranian attack comes just days before the countries reach the two-month marker since the April 8 ceasefire went into effect.
This week has seen multiple escalations of violence, but the Trump administration has asserted that the ceasefire is still intact and that peace negotiations remain ongoing.
The CENTCOM decision to down the Iranian attack drones on Friday also came just days after the House voted 215-208, with four Republicans joining Democrats, to “remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized” by Congress. The Senate took a similar step to curb Trump’s war powers with respect to the conflict in Iran.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday in the Oval Office that if Iran attacked U.S. troops, “it would be a good reason” to once again resume strikes on Iran.
“If they killed U.S. troops, I think, I would do that very quickly,” Trump said.
CENTCOM initiated a similar defense strategy to the one on Friday earlier this week. It had helped intercept Iranian strikes headed toward Kuwait and Bahrain and also conducted strikes of its own on Iran’s Qeshm Island in response on Monday.
The war powers resolution, which the House approved this week, limits a president’s unilateral military action to 60 days before it has to be authorized by Congress, though it does grant the president a one-time 30-day extension. The White House has argued that the war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes at the end of February, has yet to reach the resolution’s threshold because of the ceasefire.