Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said that they had carried out attacks against three oil tankers and three US-linked vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday evening, following US strikes on Iranian tankers earlier in the day, as the cycle of violence in the key waterway keeps intensifying.
The IRGC said in a statement to the Iranian media that their naval forces "targeted three oil tankers on the unauthorised route of the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the child-killing America in other areas". They also warned other vessels against attempting to use routes that Tehran had not authorised.
A spokesperson for Iran's joint military command warned that strikes against US military ships would be more severe if the US continues to interfere with Iranian shipping, the Iranian state broadcaster reported.
Earlier on Saturday, the US military said that its forces destroyed three Iranian oil tankers after the IRGC fired ballistic missiles towards two navy warships that were patrolling the region, enforcing the US blockade of Iranian ports and thus choking Iran's oil exports which constitutes its economic lifeline.
Iran reportedly used for the first time anti-ship ballistic missiles launched from Isfahan and Kerman towards the US navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, in a significant escalation of Iranian military actions against the US in the latest flare-up of violence. The Iranian media did not provide details as to the targets nor any damage inflicted in the alleged attacks.
