6 injured, 6 missing in U.S. attack on Iranian vessels near Omani port

TEHRAN, May 9 (Xinhua) : At least six people were injured and six others went missing in an attack by U.S. fighter jets on six Iranian cargo and fishing vessels near Oman's port city of Khasab, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.  

The vessels belonged to villagers in Bandar Lengeh County of the southern Hormozgan province, county Governor Foad Moradzadeh was quoted as saying. 

Moradzadeh said the injured were hospitalized, adding that a total of 20 people were on board the vessels at the time of the strike on Friday night.

On Friday, the official news agency IRNA reported that at least one person was killed and 10 others were injured in a U.S. attack the night before on a civilian vessel off the Hormozgan coast.

The attack caused the 15-crew cargo ship to catch fire, and led to the remaining four people going missing, IRNA reported.

Sporadic clashes erupted on Thursday and Friday between Iran and the United States in and around the Strait of Hormuz.

On Thursday night, Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said U.S. forces had attacked two Iranian vessels, later identified as oil tankers, near the Strait of Hormuz and concurrently carried out airstrikes on civilian areas in southern Iran in cooperation with some regional states.

Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the Iranian command's spokesperson, said Iranian forces immediately retaliated by attacking U.S. military vessels east of the Strait of Hormuz and south of Iran's Chabahar port, causing significant damage.

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement that U.S. forces had intercepted "unprovoked Iranian attacks" and responded with self-defense strikes as U.S. Navy ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz.