The Iranian Executive has communicated that the country's Armed Forces have forced back a US destroyer that was heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, an area under Tehran's control, at a time when the US president, Donald Trump, was announcing the imminent start of a "demining" operation in the region.
The events have accelerated in the last hours of a key day, coinciding with the meeting in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, of two high-level delegations from the United States and Iran, with the aim of shoring up the fragile ceasefire in force after a month of conflict, triggered after the United States and Israel attacked Tehran, Iranian capital, last February 28.
U.S. sources have indicated to the Axios portal that, in effect, warships sailed "through the Strait of Hormuz towards the Arabian Sea before returning to the Persian Gulf" within the framework of what they described as a "freedom of navigation operation in international waters."
In contrast, and in statements to the Jabar Network television channel, a spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has spoken of an episode of "possible violation of the ceasefire" in force between the United States and Iran, "averted by the immediate response and warning of the diplomatic apparatus and the firm warning of the armed forces."
The semi-official Fars agency has indicated, citing its own sources, that the spokesman was alluding to the movement of a US destroyer that departed from the port of Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, in the direction of the Strait of Hormuz, which triggered "an immediate reaction from the armed forces."
According to this information, when the vessel was located, Iranian authorities issued a 30-minute ultimatum for it to immediately leave the waters, under the warning that, if it did not do so, it would be attacked and the peace negotiations in Islamabad, as Iranian diplomatic sources conveyed to the Pakistani mediation, would be "affected."