WASHINGTON — U.S. Central Command on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, denied Iran’s claim that its forces struck an unmanned U.S. Navy vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, with a CENTCOM spokesman calling the Iranian state-media report “a total lie,” the Washington Examiner reported.

“The report came from Iranian state media and it’s a total lie,” Capt. Tim Hawkins, a CENTCOM spokesman, said, according to the Examiner.

Earlier Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it attacked an American military unmanned surface vessel attempting to enter the strait, The Associated Press and ABC News reported. Insanity Developing first covered that claim when the U.S. had not yet responded.

The Examiner noted the purported target had no crew aboard. The denial follows Saturday’s CENTCOM strikes that permanently disabled or destroyed three Iranian crude oil carriers after IRGC ballistic missiles targeted two U.S. Navy warships. No American personnel were harmed in those exchanges, CENTCOM has said.

Iranian parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf separately warned Sunday that “the era of proportionate responses has come to an end” and that future aggression against Iran’s interests would draw a “faster, more intense, and more painful” response, the Examiner and CNBC reported, citing his Telegram remarks. Ghalibaf also acknowledged domestic economic pressure — inflation, unemployment, and exchange-rate volatility — alongside the fighting.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright, appearing on ABC’s This Week the same morning, said Washington “may not” reach a nuclear agreement with Tehran and that the alternative “may be simply destroying their capabilities,” The Hill reported. Insanity Developing covered that interview here.

President Donald Trump has said he does not expect the renewed fighting to last long, while Tehran continues to assert control over the Hormuz chokepoint and the U.S. maintains a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Sources