By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
U.S. Central Command on Sunday released a statement disputing claims from the Iranian regime that the United States has struck Gulf nations with attack drones, stating that Tehran is behind those attacks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, over the weekend, claimed that the United States and Israel launched attacks against Arab countries and are attributing them to Iran.
“The Iranian regime’s foreign minister claims that the United States is using one-way attack drones to attack Gulf countries and shifting the blame to Iran,” CENTCOM wrote on X.
“[Instead, Iranian military forces] have launched thousands of drones AND missiles at its neighbors, indiscriminately targeting civilian hotels, commercial airports, residential communities and economic infrastructure.
“U.S. attack drones are only targeting Iranian military capabilities to eliminate threats posed to the region.”
During an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed published Sunday, Araghchi said the U.S. military has developed a drone similar to the commonly used Iranian Shahed drone, according to a translation. He did not provide any evidence to back up the assertion.
Last week, Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement that Iran would block the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway and would also continue attacking military targets in other Gulf nations.
However, Iran’s foreign minister on Sunday said the Strait of Hormuz was open to all traffic except U.S. and Israeli ships.
And on Saturday, Iran threatened to attack infrastructure of the United Arab Emirates, stating that it would hit “legitimate targets” because the U.S. military used them for attacks. The Iranian regime also urged people to evacuate the major ports in the country.
The UAE later stated that it was attacked on Sunday by four ballistic missiles and six drones from Iran. There was no immediate word on damage or casualties.
So far, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman during the war, causing significant damage and rattling economies even as most are intercepted. Tehran has stated that it targeted U.S. assets, even as Iranian strikes are reported at civilian sites such as airports and oil fields.
While speaking with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Araghchi said that Iran believes that there was “reason why [it] should talk with Americans” and that Iran has had no “good experience talking with Americans.”
He also said that Iran is “open to countries who want to talk to us about the safe passage of their vessels” through the Strait of Hormuz and has been approached by a number of nations about that. He didn’t name which countries.
Later in the interview, Araghchi also said nearby Middle Eastern countries that Iran has attacked “have given their soil to American forces to attack us.”
“We are only targeting American assets, American installations, [and] American military bases,” he said.
Araghchi told MS NOW that the U.S. military attacked Iran’s strategic Kharg Island and Abu Musa Island from two locations in the UAE, including Ras Al-Khaimah and a place “very close to Dubai,” calling that dangerous. He said that Iran may retaliate but “will try to be careful not to attack any populated area” in those locations.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. military targeted military sites on Kharg Island and that Iran’s oil infrastructure could be targeted soon if the regime blocks the passage of commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
