President Donald Trump said on Thursday, July 18, that the USS Boxer amphibious assault ship took defensive action in the Strait of Hormuz and destroyed an Iranian drone which closed into the near distance, approximately 1000 yards away. The action was taken after multiple calls for the drone to stand down were ignored, “threatening the safety of the ship and ship’s crew.”Speaking at the White House on Thursday afternoon, Trump called on other nations to defend Iranian attempts to “disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce” and to “protect their ships as they go through the Strait of Hormuz. The incident came hours after Tehran said it had taken over an oil tanker with its 12-man crew, without identifying its owner.
