Trump says Iran has “taken some shots” in the Strait of Hormuz, damaging Korean cargo ship

Donald Trump | Courtesy: MGN

President Trump said Monday that Iran had “taken some shots at unrelated nations” in the Strait of Hormuz, damaging a South Korean cargo ship.

The president, in a post on his Truth Social platform, said the South Korean ship sustained the only damage inflicted by Iran’s attacks on ships Monday, and he suggested South Korea should “come and join the mission” against Iran.

South Korean media said earlier that an explosion had been reported on a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz but that the cause was still being investigated.

Another ship, a tanker owned by the UAE government’s ANDOC energy firm, was targeted earlier in the day by two Iranian drones, Emirati officials said, adding that nobody on the vessel was reportedly wounded.

President Trump announced on Sunday the beginning of Project Freedom, an operation under which the U.S. military will “guide” ships stranded for weeks in the Persian Gulf out via the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran warned Monday that any vessel attempting to transit the waterway would be attacked.

“Iran has taken some shots at unrelated Nations with respect to the Ship Movement, PROJECT FREEDOM, including a South Korean Cargo Ship,” Mr. Trump wrote Monday. “Perhaps it’s time for South Korea to come and join the mission! We’ve shot down seven small Boats or, as they like to call them, ‘fast’ Boats. It’s all they have left. Other than the South Korean Ship, there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait.”

Mr. Trump said Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine would brief reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday about the ongoing conflict.