Iranian state-linked media reported that two missiles struck a US Navy vessel near the island of Jask after it allegedly ignored warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in what would mark a sharp escalation in the confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz if confirmed.

The claim, carried by Iran’s Fars news agency and attributed to local sources and the IRGC, came shortly after President Donald Trump announced a US naval operation, named Project Freedom, to guide stranded vessels out of the restricted waterway. There was no immediate independent confirmation that a US vessel had been hit.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said earlier that its navy had prevented US warships from entering the Strait of Hormuz after issuing what it described as a “firm and swift warning”. The force said further details would follow.

According to the Iranian reports, the incident took place near Jask, a strategically important area on Iran’s southern coast close to the Gulf of Oman approaches to Hormuz. The location matters because any confirmed clash there would suggest that the confrontation is no longer confined to the narrowest transit lanes of the strait itself, but has widened into the surrounding maritime approaches.

The reported attack followed Trump’s announcement that the United States was launching Project Freedom at the request of countries whose vessels remain stranded in or around the strait. The president said the mission was intended to “guide their ships safely out of these restricted waterways”.

Tehran had repeatedly warned that any US-led naval escort operation would risk confrontation. For Iran, the Strait of Hormuz remains its most powerful remaining lever in the crisis: a chokepoint through which a significant share of the world’s traded oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.

“If a ship has been hit, this is not something you can easily hide, the United States would most likely issue a formal communique if one of its vessels had been damaged.

The broader danger is that both sides were now operating in a zone where miscalculation could rapidly produce escalation. The United States has framed Project Freedom as an effort to restore safe passage for commercial vessels. Iran appears to view it as an attempt to break its coercive hold over the strait.

The legal position is also contested. Iran has released a map asserting control over access routes, but analysts say that claim is difficult to reconcile with international law because the recognised approaches to the strait involve waters adjacent to Oman and the United Arab Emirates as well as Iran.

That distinction may matter in law, but less immediately at sea. Iran does not need uncontested legal title over the entire strait to disrupt it. It needs only enough missiles, drones, fast boats, mines, surveillance assets and political will to make shipowners, insurers and naval commanders treat the waterway as a live military risk.

If the Iranian claim is confirmed, the incident would mark the moment the Hormuz crisis shifted from blockade and warning into direct naval confrontation between the United States and Iran. If it is denied or disproved, it may still serve Tehran’s purpose by injecting uncertainty into the operating environment around the strait.

For now, the central fact remains unresolved: Iran says a US naval vessel was hit. Washington has not confirmed that account. Until it does, the reported strike should be treated as a serious but unverified claim from a party to the conflict.

What is already clear is that Project Freedom has changed the character of the crisis. The issue is no longer simply whether commercial vessels can move through Hormuz. It is whether the United States can escort them without triggering the very confrontation the mission was designed to overcome.