At least eight U.S. Marines were injured earlier this month when an Iranian cruise missile struck them in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a new report, and the Pentagon never told the public about it.
NBC News reported Sunday night that the attack took place on Sept. 14 and targeted a ship in the strategic waterway. Seven enlisted Marines and one officer were hurt in the strike, according to the outlet, which cited three U.S. officials.
The Marines were not aboard a U.S. Navy vessel when the missile hit, the report said. It remains unclear what type of ship they were on. The severity of the injuries also has not been made public, though the service members eventually returned to duty.
The bombshell report made clear that the incident had flown under the radar until now.
“The Defense Department did not disclose any Sept. 14 attacks against U.S. forces in the region,” NBC News reported. “The Iranian attack and details of the eight Marines’ injuries have not previously been reported.”
When Mediaite reached out to the Pentagon for comment on the attack, a spokesperson directed questions to Central Command. A message left with CENTCOM was not immediately returned.
The revelation raises fresh questions about what the public is being told about the danger facing American service members in the region. CENTCOM shared several videos and photos on social media on Sept. 14 and 15, but none of those posts mentioned an Iranian strike on U.S. forces.
On Monday, CENTCOM took to social media to push back on claims from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps that the regime’s “navy” controls the Strait of Hormuz, posting what it labeled a fact check.
“FACT: Iran has no navy because American forces sank it,” CENTCOM wrote. “And Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz as evidenced by the thousands of ships that have passed through freely along with more than 1 billion barrels of oil just over the past few months.”
The Strait of Hormuz has become a central flashpoint in the ongoing standoff between Washington and Tehran.
The NBC News report lands just days after Iran floated a proposal to reopen the strait and restart negotiations over its nuclear program. The pitch came on the heels of heated speeches at the United Nations.
Trump wasted no time shooting it down, saying he was rejecting the Iranian offer.
“We’re winning tremendously,” Trump said in explaining his decision.
The newly revealed attack adds another layer to the tense situation in the strait, where U.S. forces have been operating as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps continues to insist it holds control of the waterway, a claim CENTCOM flatly rejects.
Key details surrounding the Sept. 14 strike remain unanswered, including the type of ship the Marines were aboard and the full extent of their injuries. It is also unclear why the Defense Department did not disclose the attack at the time it happened.
For now, the Marines who were wounded in the strike have returned to duty, according to the report, while the Pentagon has yet to publicly address why the incident was kept under wraps.
