According to reports from Tehran, Iranian military forces informed the negotiating delegation yesterday that a US destroyer was moving from the port of Fujairah towards the Strait of Hormuz, one of the key maritime routes for global energy trade.
The same sources claim that Iran, through an intermediary in Pakistan, sent a clear warning that the American ship would be targeted within 30 minutes if it continued its movement towards the strait.
"Following a decisive reaction from Iranian forces and warnings sent by Tehran through its delegation in Pakistan, the American destroyer stopped its movement and withdrew from the direction of the Strait of Hormuz," Iranian sources said.
According to these claims, the American ship changed course and moved away from the area shortly after the warning.
On the other hand, US officials present a different version of events. One of them stated that the US warships passed through the Strait of Hormuz towards the Arabian Sea, but then returned to the Gulf, emphasizing that this was a "freedom of navigation operation in international waters."
Additional confusion was caused by the American portal Axios, which claims that American warships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the beginning of the conflict in Iran, thus directly denying the allegations of Iranian media that the destroyer was stopped before passing.
In a kind of information war between Iranian media outlets close to the authorities in Tehran and Axios, completely contradictory claims have been published.
Iranian media previously reported that the US ship had headed to pass through the strait but turned back after being warned by Iranian forces. However, according to Axios, this information is not correct and the destroyer still managed to pass through the strait.
Axios also states that, in addition to the destroyers, several other ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz, with the aim of showing commercial vessels that passage is still possible.
According to the same source, after passing, the ships immediately turned around and returned, and the entire operation was not coordinated with the Iranian military or the country's political leadership.
