US CENTCOM Debunks Iranian Regime's Lies of Hormuz Threats, Destroyed F-35s and M/T Nora Breaking Blockade

TAMPA, Jul 30: US Central Command (CENTCOM) has rejected three claims circulated by Iranian state media and attributed to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), calling them false.

In a fact-check issued on Thursday, CENTCOM said the IRGC had continued to make misleading claims concerning commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, alleged US aircraft losses and a commercial tanker reportedly breaching a US blockade.

On the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC claimed that free and open shipping routes were dangerous for commercial vessels. CENTCOM rejected the claim, saying the immediate danger to commercial ships and their civilian crews came from the IRGC's "verbal threats and attempted attacks."

The US military also denied an IRGC claim that three US F-35 stealth fighters and three other aircraft had been destroyed during a recent Iranian attack on an American air base.

"No U.S. aircraft were destroyed or damaged in recent attempted Iranian attacks," CENTCOM said, adding that all missiles and drones involved were either intercepted or failed to reach their targeted areas.

CENTCOM further disputed Iranian state media reports that the commercial oil tanker M/T Nora had broken through what Tehran described as a US blockade.

According to CENTCOM, the vessel had not breached the blockade, which it described as an "America's steel wall blockade." The command said more than 20 US warships, hundreds of aircraft and thousands of US service members remained deployed to enforce the blockade.

The fact-check comes as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider confrontation involving Iran and the United States remain high, with both sides continuing to issue conflicting accounts of military operations and maritime activity.