CENTCOM Rebuts Iran’s Denial of Attacking Civilians

U.S. Central Command rejected a denial of attacks on civilians that it attributed to Iran’s foreign minister in a statement published on November 2. The command accused Iran of deliberately striking civilian infrastructure, residential neighborhoods and other facilities in neighboring Gulf countries, challenging the minister’s account of Iranian conduct in the region. CENTCOM also accused Iran of deliberately attacking civilian mariners at sea, saying more than 20 had been killed in recent months. That figure was presented as a cumulative toll, rather than casualties from a newly identified attack. The command said: “Iran’s indiscriminate aggression is clearly evident and inexcusable.” The accusations and the casualty figure are the U.S. military’s account. The rebuttal followed other CENTCOM statements about commercial navigation and U.S. naval operations. On October 31, the command said 144 commercial vessels had been redirected while its forces enforced the blockade. It released that total alongside a photograph of an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter departing the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. On October 28, CENTCOM had rejected claims from Iranian-controlled media that commercial vessels were striking mines in the Strait of Hormuz. It said U.S. forces had cleared the internationally recognized primary transit lanes, that those routes remained clear and that thousands of vessels had passed through them safely.