U.S. Central Command said Tuesday it intercepted what it called a "surprise attack" on U.S. forces by Iran.
According to Central Command, ballistic missiles launched from Iran targeted "U.S. forces based in the Middle East." All the missiles were intercepted.
At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high…
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) July 28, 2026
It was not immediately clear whether or how the U.S. would respond to the incident, which comes as President Donald Trump has appeared to prioritize new diplomatic efforts with Iran in the last week.
On Monday, President Trump said Iran had asked to resume ceasefire talks “because we’ve been hitting them very hard.”
“We’re having good talks, so we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters. “I think there’s a good chance that something could happen. And if it does, good. if it doesn’t, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago.”
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Iran says no such direct talks are ongoing, but Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that “mediators may convey messages to us from the American side.”
The U.S. paused strikes on Iran over the weekend following nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly attacks.
