That settles the question we were discussing a while back as to whether an actual object was struck in that exercise. Now it raises another question as to why a US naval group was within 100 miles of a target and then complain about it later when the target was struck. We were assuming that Iran purposely aimed at some random point within 100 miles of the naval group just to demonstrate capabilities.
OR, another very unlikely scenario is that one of the vessels in the naval group was the actual target that was struck and no one is saying anything about it, though I'm personally very skeptical about this.
Respectfully speaking, I sincerely don't think that would be the case whatsoever. If a USN vessel were to be hit by such a missile, it'd be totally annihilated with nearly all hands on-board killed. This isn't something that would have been easily covered up by the Americans, who were still under the auspices of Trump's administration (if I'm not mistaken) and were looking for a reason to bomb Iran anyways. Such an act by the IRGC-ASF would have given them more than enough ammunition to engage in a last-minute high-intensity conflict, so I think it's suffice enough to say that Iran hit a target 1,800km away that was observable to the USN as to send the most poignant message possible. That being "We can reach you even far out at sea". It also goes to show that Iran can target any building in Israel with amazing accuracy as well given 1,800km targeting technology would be much easier for fixed targets and Israel falls well within that range.
Regardless, this confirmation by the intelligence minister cements one of the most important strategic hurdles for Iran's military,
bar-none. If what he is saying and what the IRGC has said is truly accurate, then the threat Iran poses to U.S. naval strength is immense.
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