US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday after Tehran twice attempted to strike an American warship with ballistic missiles in recent days, marking a renewed escalation in the conflict between Washington and Tehran. US Central Command said the tanker crews were ordered to leave the vessels before American forces attacked them.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable,” CENTCOM said, according to AFP, describing the operation as retaliation for Iran’s latest failed attacks. The five vessels were identified as the Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco, and Derya. They were struck in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island, the center of much of Iran’s oil export infrastructure. The attacks followed repeated Iranian attempts to hit US Navy vessels. None of the Iranian ballistic missiles struck their intended American targets, according to US officials. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington intended to continue hitting Iranian tankers if Tehran persisted in targeting US naval forces. Speaking during a visit to Colombia on Tuesday, Rubio said each new Iranian attempt to attack US ships would bring further consequences for Tehran’s tanker fleet. The latest US strikes quickly triggered a threat of retaliation from Iran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy warned crews aboard oil tankers at or near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to abandon their vessels immediately, saying the ships could become targets.