US Central Command confirms USS Truxtun, Rafael Peralta, and Mason in Arabian Sea after Iranian attacks

US Central Command has confirmed that three guided-missile destroyers, the USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason, are now operating in the Arabian Sea to reinforce the blockade against Iran. The deployment follows Iranian attacks involving missiles, drones, and small boats targeting US naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on May 8.

What happened in the Strait

Iranian forces launched a multi-pronged assault against the three US destroyers while they were operating near the Strait of Hormuz. The attack combined missiles, drones, and small boat harassment. The US responded with self-defense strikes and moved to reinforce an existing blockade designed to curtail Iranian energy exports.

In April, the US had already seized Iran-linked vessels in the region, escalating the maritime standoff well before the May 8 attack.

Prediction markets are pricing in chaos

Odds for the normalization of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz dropped from 77% to 61% favorable by May 31. That 16-percentage-point swing reflects a market consensus that the situation is deteriorating, not stabilizing.

Speculation around Iranian control of key regional assets fell to just 14.5% YES by June 30, following the US vessel seizures in April.

These prediction markets, many of them built on Ethereum, are seeing increased activity as traders look for ways to hedge against uncertainty.

The crypto angle runs deeper than you’d think

Iran has long relied on cryptocurrency mining as a tool to navigate international sanctions. The country’s relatively cheap energy, subsidized by its oil and gas reserves, made it a natural home for mining operations, with Iran once accounting for around 4.5% of the global Bitcoin hashrate.

A naval blockade that disrupts Iranian energy infrastructure doesn’t just affect oil exports. It potentially kneecaps the country’s crypto mining capacity too. If domestic energy supplies get redirected to essential services or become unreliable due to the conflict, those mining rigs go quiet.

If Iran’s crypto mining operations are genuinely disrupted by energy shortages, that hashrate has to go somewhere. Mining operations in other jurisdictions, particularly in the US, Central Asia, and parts of Africa, could absorb that capacity, subtly shifting the geography of Bitcoin’s security infrastructure.