Iran said it attacked vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on September 9 after the United States destroyed several Iranian oil tankers overnight, in a sharp escalation in the six-month war.The tit-for-tat strikes led to a surge in global oil prices, with Brent crude reaching $100 per barrel for the first time since July.Tehran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan. No casualties or damage were reported.
The US military said it sank five Iranian oil tankers overnight near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, calling it a response to Tehran firing missiles at a US Navy warship over the past two days.Iran retaliated by firing 20 ballistic missiles toward Jordan, which said it intercepted 18 of them. Jordan said two of the missiles landed in unpopulated areas.The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of Iran’s armed forces, claimed that it also attacked two US vessels, eight oil tankers, and 10 “noncompliant vessels” that were trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.A key artery for global energy supplies, the strategic waterway has been effectively closed by Tehran since the start of the war with the United States in February.Earlier in the war, Iran established a shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz that hugged the Iranian coastline. It said any vessels using a US-backed route along Oman’s coast would be targeted.The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is affiliated with the British Navy, said on September 9 that “several” vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf were “subject to disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity in the region.”
