WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)—The United States shot down multiple Iranian missiles and drones fired at US Navy and commercial vessels and destroyed six of Tehran’s small boats, a top US admiral said on Monday.

The hostilities occurred as American forces seek to facilitate the transit of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in an effort dubbed “Project Freedom” that President Donald Trump announced on Sunday.

US Apache and Seahawk helicopters hit “six Iranian small boats threatening commercial shipping,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), told journalists.

US forces also “effectively engaged” all “missiles and drones that were fired at both us and the commercial ships,” Cooper said.

Some cruise missiles were launched at US Navy ships but most of them as well as multiple drones targeted commercial vessels, he said.

“We defended both ourselves and, consistent with our commitment, we defended all the commercial ships,” Cooper said.

In a post on his Truth Social Platform, Trump put the number of Iranian boats struck at seven and said “there has been, at this moment, no damage going through the Strait” aside from a South Korean ship that was hit, about which he provided no further details.

US- Defensive ‘umbrella’ –

US and Israeli forces launched the war against Iran on February 28, prompting the Islamic republic to close the Strait of Hormuz — a vital route for oil and gas exports — while American forces later launched a blockade of Iranian ports.

Iranian state television said earlier Monday that the country’s navy had fired cruise missiles, rockets and combat drones near US destroyers moving through the strait in what it described as a “warning shot.”

CENTCOM said that two US guided-missile destroyers had passed through the strait into the Gulf as part of “Project Freedom,” while two US-flagged merchant vessels transited the opposite way and “are safely headed on their journey.”

Cooper said the US military is not directly escorting ships through the strait, but rather has “multiple layers that include ships, helicopters, aircraft, airborne early warning, electronic warfare,” amounting to “a much broader defensive package than you would have… if you were just escorting.”

The effort comes after US forces used unspecified “exquisite technology” to clear a pathway through the strait “over the last couple of weeks” and then “put this umbrella over the top of it,” he said.

It will “ultimately be a two-way path,” but “the most important thing… in the near term, is getting ships out,” Cooper added.

As of April 29, more than 900 commercial vessels were located in the Gulf, according to maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine.