Iran said on Sunday it had struck an unmanned US military boat in the Strait of Hormuz, the latest exchange between the two countries after roughly a month of relative calm.
State-run media in Tehran said the US vessel was attempting to enter an area that Iran considers restricted within the strategic waterway. US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, did not confirm the claim or respond to a request for comment.
The reported strike came a day after the United States said it hit Iranian oil tankers in retaliation for Iran launching ballistic missiles at Navy warships. The renewed fighting reopened a corridor of attacks that had gone quiet for about four weeks.
The wider conflict began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. A ceasefire was announced in June, but on-and-off fighting has continued as both sides seek to inflict military and economic pressure while negotiations have collapsed. Recent months have seen repeated attacks on tankers moving through the strait.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints, carrying a large share of seaborne crude exports. Attacks on shipping there raise the risk of disruption to global energy supplies and have unsettled maritime traffic in the region.
Elsewhere in the Middle East on Sunday, Israeli strikes killed at least four people in southern Lebanon and leveled a hospital, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said. Strikes on the village of Arabsalim killed two, while two others died in the city of Nabatiyeh.
Nabatiyeh lies near a strategic hill that Israeli forces said they gained control over on Thursday, in an area that has become a flashpoint in fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
Neither Washington nor Tehran has announced a return to talks. Both governments have said they retain the right to respond to further attacks.