WASHINGTON — The US military shot down four drones launched from Iran and attacked a control center in the port city of Bandar Abbas, US media reported late Wednesday.
The attack in Bandar Abbas prevented the launch of a fifth drone, CNN and The New York Times reported, and came after what the military described as “self-defense” attacks overnight from Monday to Tuesday on Iranian missile sites and mine-laying vessels.
“Today, U.S. Central Command Forces (CENTCOM) shot down four Iranian one-way strike drones that posed a threat in the Strait of Hormuz,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said in a statement.
“US forces also attacked an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone,” he added.
The new attacks come just days after the United States attacked several Iranian missile bases and mine-laying vessels in the same region, in what the military described as “self-defense” attacks.
Those attacks were seen as a test of the US-Iran ceasefire, but they did not precipitate a return to full-scale hostilities.
The US official on Wednesday described the latest actions as “measured, purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire.”
