The US military says it has hit three Iran-linked oil tankers after Iran launched ballistic missiles towards two American Navy warships in the region.
US Central Command (Centcom) said on Saturday it had “permanently disabled” a tanker near Kharg Island and another near Jask in the Gulf of Oman, and “completely destroyed” a third in the Gulf of Oman.
“It’s simple: if Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers,” Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media.
Iran’s state media confirmed the attacks. A spokesperson for Iran’s military warned that strikes on US military vessels would be expanded if they continued attacking Iranian ships, the state media reported.
Iranian state media outlet IRIB reported that there were no casualties in the attack on the tanker near Kharg Island, and that footage indicated the vessel’s cooling system put out the fire within an hour.
Kharg Island is a small rocky outcrop just 15 nautical miles (24km) off the coast of Iran. Ninety percent of Iran’s crude oil comes through a terminal on the island – transported through pipes from the mainland.
The crews aboard the two attacked tankers in the Gulf of Oman were taken to shore in lifeboats, IRIB reported. One of those tankers was empty and the other was carrying a load of oil, it added.
Centcom said it “successfully evaded” multiple attacks from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting a US aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer. No American troops were harmed, it said.
Admiral Brad Cooper, Centcom’s commander, said in a statement on Saturday: “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost – taking out three of yours.”
“We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
Centcom, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, claimed that the three Iranian oil tankers were “part of a multi-billion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies”.
The strikes come nearly a week after renewed attacks between the US and Iran, which followed a period of relative calm between the warring sides.
The US resumed attacks last Sunday, when it said it had struck two rocket launchers to prevent them being used to lay naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
