The United States has destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf and Gulf of Oman after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) twice targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles, while Tehran responded with missile strikes on a US base in Jordan and claimed attacks on American naval vessels and oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
US Central Command said the five tankers, Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco and Derya, were struck on Tuesday. According to the US military, the crews were ordered to abandon the vessels before the attacks. CENTCOM said the targeted American warship successfully evaded both Iranian missile attacks, with no US personnel injured, and continued its patrols in regional waters.
The latest strikes marked another escalation in the six-month-old conflict, with Washington increasingly targeting Iranian commercial shipping in an effort to pressure Tehran economically. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has warned that the United States will continue striking Iranian oil tankers whenever Iranian forces attempt to attack US warships.
Iran, meanwhile, said it had carried out a retaliatory missile attack against US forces at the Al Azraq air base in Jordan. The IRGC claimed the operation hit maintenance and deployment facilities used by US F-35, F-16 and F-15 fighter aircraft. Iranian officials also said their forces had attacked US destroyers and other vessels in the region.
