Iran’s IRGC claims missile strikes on US combat destroyers

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed that its forces carried out missile strikes against two U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers, the USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) and USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53), in the latest escalation between Tehran and Washington.

In a statement carried by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said its Aerospace Force targeted the two warships with ballistic missiles during an operation it described as retaliation for U.S. actions against Iranian oil tankers and vessels. The IRGC claimed that both destroyers sustained “significant damage.”

The two vessels are Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers equipped with the Aegis combat system and capable of conducting air-defense, anti-surface and strike missions. U.S. Navy fleet tracking information published on September 8 listed both ships among American warships operating in the broader region, reports AL Jazeera.