US strikes three Iranian oil tankers after it says warships were targeted

Amir Vahdat, Toqa Ezzidin and Cara AnnaSeptember 6, 2026 — 1:25amCairo: US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers after navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles, the American military said, warning that it would “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet”.Experts called it a dangerous escalation after Iran’s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.The strikes – a day after President Donald Trump sought to minimise the conflict as “small potatoes” – keep up a new tilt back towards fighting after six months of on-again, off-again war that began with US and Israeli attacks on February 28. Both sides have sought to inflict both military and economic pain, and negotiations have collapsed.The military’s statement said a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded “multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks” while patrolling in the region and no US personnel were hurt. It said two Iranian oil carriers were “permanently disabled” and the third, unladen one, was destroyed.The US statement said the tankers were part of a shadow network helping to fund Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and its armed proxies in the region. There was no immediate Iranian response.Iran’s state broadcaster said later on Saturday (Tehran time) that Iran targeted three oil tankers and three American vessels in response to the US strikes. This couldn’t be immediately confirmed.US President Donald Trump, pictured boarding Air Force One on Friday, downplayed the conflict with Iran as “small potatoes”.AP Photo/Julia Demaree NikhinsonThat Iran targeted a US aircraft carrier with a ballistic missile “indicates that Tehran is becoming increasingly willing to accept risks it previously sought to avoid, including directly threatening some of the most important US military assets in the region,” Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said on X.Earlier, Iranian state TV had said four US missiles struck a tanker about 10 kilometres from Kharg Island, home to a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil. Kharg Island has been repeatedly targeted during the war, including US strikes on military sites there in March.The US said one tanker was struck off Kharg Island and another was struck near Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz. The unladen tanker was hit in the Gulf of Oman, and the US said its crew had been “directed to abandon ship”. The statement shared what it called video footage of the strikes.After the US statement, Iran’s state broadcaster reported the two other tankers attacked, saying their crews had evacuated.“We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet,” the head of US Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper said.Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks a war crime, and said that the consequences for continued US aggression, including “economic warfare,” would rest with Washington and its allies.The strikes came nearly a week after the US and Iran resumed attacks following a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian communities along it again being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a US bombardment of southern Iran. One strike hit a wedding.Masoumeh Zarei, 13, was wounded in the attack. She spoke to The Associated Press at a hospital while being treated for injuries to her abdomen.She said that the wedding celebration had already begun when she set out to join it. She never made it there. She was knocked unconscious when a telecommunications tower was struck. Her next memory was of waking up in a hospital.Her friend, 14-year-old Kiana Karimi, was also wounded and in intensive care. She told the AP that she heard five explosions.US Vice President JD Vance said that strike would be investigated “fully”, while repeating the mantra that the US never deliberately attacked civilians.The latest fighting came after new US efforts to apply economic pressure on Tehran, whose hard-line new senior leaders have signalled the willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions.The elected government of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, has said that it favours a negotiated end to the war.Iran has found ways over the years to circumvent sanctions – and now a US blockade of its ports – and get its oil to buyers to help ease growing economic pressures. That relies in part on a shadow fleet transporting its oil.Meanwhile, the issue that helped lead to the war – Iran’s nuclear program – was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June. Now diplomats say the US, Britain, France and Germany seek to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for failure to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.Instead, Tehran’s new leverage focuses on the strait that is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began.The US military has been helping to guide ships through the strait as Tehran asserts control and targets some vessels, but overall traffic remains low.APGet a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.From our partners