USA and Iran Exchange Fire, Three Iranians Killed: Live Updates

This is a developing story, we will keep this article updated throughout the night.

A fresh exchange of fire between US and Iranian forces is unfolding in the Persian Gulf tonight, this has been revealed to Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem through Iranian sources. We had been hearing of explosions around Bandar Abbas and the Strait of Hormuz from people on the ground for several hours before the clarification came through Ali Hashem.

The clearest current reconstruction of events we can make at this time are as follows: on Monday night, US forces destroyed two IRGC Navy speedboats off the southern Iranian coast, near Larak Island, killing several personnel, reports suggest at least three people killed, named by Iran’s SNN news as Abbas Eslami, Ghodrat Zarnagari and Abdolreza Golzari.

Several hours later, Iran responded by firing missiles at US warships, which has in turn triggered strikes on the eastern part of Bandar Abbas and the activation of Iranian air defences. Reports on the ground suggest a number of U.S. drones were shot down while surveilling for the location of the missile launch, with at least one of the drones being an MQ-9 “Reaper”.

Al Jazeera reporter Ali Hashem finally cleared up the confusion around tonight’s explosions (Ali Hashem on X, screenshot taken on ‘Nitter’)

The ceasefire brokered by Pakistan in early April has already been tested by consistent U.S. violations, as the ongoing U.S. blockade of Iran is legally an act of war. The USA has also launched unprovoked attacks in the past, it remains to be seen if this is the case tonight, we will update this article once we know more.

The USA has now put its own account on the record. Speaking to Fox News, U.S. Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins described the night's events as "self-defense strikes" in southern Iran, targeting missile launch sites and what he called Iranian boats attempting to lay mines. "U.S. Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire," Hawkins said. While seemingly confirming the events began with the U.S. strikes, the spokesperson claims the attacks are “self-defence” in nature, which doesn’t line up with reports at this time.

The spokesperson, Captain Tim Hawkins, told the network that two Iranian boats had allegedly been laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, and that the U.S. military destroyed both IRGC vessels before striking a surface-to-air missile site in Bandar Abbas, one the USA claims was targeting its warplanes.

The picture the USA offers is this: it sank two Iranian boats, killed Iranian personnel, and bombed Iranian soil, and yet the ceasefire holds, and yet none of it was aggression, all of it defence. The Iranian claim of downing U.S. drones has not been commented on by the USA at this time.

Another U.S. source has claimed to Al Jazeera that Iran had “attempted to attack” the USA over the past 24 hours, it is unclear if the source is regarding the claimed deployment of mines as an “attack”.

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We will keep this piece updated through the night, follow along for updates.

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