US forces have struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted two US Navy warships with ballistic missiles, in a sharp escalation in the Gulf region.
US Central Command said an American aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer evaded multiple attacks while operating in regional waters. No US personnel were injured, it said.
Two of the Iranian crude carriers were permanently disabled, while a third, which was unladen, was destroyed in the Gulf of Oman after its crew was ordered to abandon ship.
One tanker was hit near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, while another was targeted near Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state television had earlier reported that a tanker was struck close to Kharg Island and said its crew had been evacuated.
American officials described the vessels as part of a shadow network allegedly used to generate funds for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its regional allies.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said Washington would respond to attacks on its forces and warned that Iran’s oil fleet remained vulnerable.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as a war crime and said responsibility for the consequences of continued US aggression, including what it called economic warfare, would rest with Washington and its allies.
Iran’s state broadcaster later claimed that Iranian forces had targeted three oil tankers and three American vessels in retaliation. The claim could not immediately be independently verified.
