Iran regional confrontation

Iran fired ballistic missiles at a US carrier and destroyer; CENTCOM says they missed

ATTACK
Location
Strait of Hormuz approaches (US carrier and destroyer; exact positions unpublished)
Actors
Iran · United States
Importance
Notable

US Central Command said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer on 5 September; both ships evaded the attacks and no American personnel were hurt. The IRGC said it had fired because the warships were harassing Iranian ships and enforcing the US blockade.

CENTCOM called the launches unprovoked and said a carrier and a destroyer “successfully evaded multiple” Iranian attacks. ISW, writing two days later, treated the salvo as an IRGC attempt to degrade Washington’s resolve to keep the Iran-port blockade. Iranian officials later described a new missile as having been “tested” against a US warship; CENTCOM’s account is that nothing hit. Exact launch sites and aimpoints were not published, so this record does not place a pad at Jask or Sirik.

Why it matters

Firing on the ships that enforce the blockade is Tehran saying the waterway is not Washington’s to escort. Missing them is what let CENTCOM answer on tankers rather than on a burning carrier.

Verification: Confirmed

Evidence: US military strikes three Iranian tankers in retaliation for missile attacks, US, Iranian forces fire at vessels in waters near Iran, Iran Update, September 7, 2026

CENTCOM confirmed the launches and that both ships evaded them. Iranian accounts of a hit or of a named new missile are party claims and are not treated as battle-damage.