At 6:45 a.m. local time, a US carrier strike group in the Arabian Sea was jolted into full combat as Iranian forces launched a coordinated assault: 28 anti‑ship missiles and 16 fast‑attack speedboats charging straight at the task force, defence officials say.

Alarms blared across the flight deck as Aegis destroyers lit up the sky with SM‑2 and ESSM interceptors, detonating many of the incoming missiles in mid‑air. Close‑in weapon systems spat walls of tracer fire at sea‑skimming threats, while F/A‑18s roared off the carrier to strafe the onrushing boats. Several Iranian craft erupted in fireballs; others veered away trailing smoke. One missile exploded close enough to send a towering plume over an escort, lightly damaging sensors and injuring a handful of sailors.

Within minutes, Washington’s answer was unleashed. A pre‑planned response package snapped into action: submarine‑launched Tomahawks, carrier‑based strike jets and heavy bombers slammed Iranian coastal batteries, radar sites and the naval base believed to have launched the speedboats. Early satellite imagery shows blackened piers, gutted warehouses and multiple craters where missile launchers once stood.

Tehran is portraying the clash as proof it can put a US carrier in its crosshairs. The Pentagon counters that the carrier remains “fully mission‑capable” — and that any future attempt to swarm a strike group will be met with the same, or greater, force.

As smoke still hangs over Iran’s coastline and the carrier group steams on, the world is left asking: did this morning’s duel restore deterrence—or mark the moment a dangerous game in crowded waters tipped into an all‑out naval war?