In a further escalation of tensions in West Asia, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers in retaliatory strikes after Iranian forces targeted a US warship with ballistic missiles.
According to CENTCOM, the warship was targeted twice over the past two days by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The attacks caused no personnel injuries or operational damage, and the vessel remained on active patrol.
In response, US forces carried out coordinated strikes against five vessels that CENTCOM described as belonging to Iran’s state-linked maritime fleet.
“Four crude oil carriers—the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco—were destroyed in the Gulf of Oman, while a fifth vessel, the M/T Derya, was hit near Kharg Island,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
The US military said crews aboard the vessels had been directed to abandon ship before the strikes were carried out. The vessels were subsequently rendered inoperable.
CENTCOM identified the ships as part of a “multibillion-dollar shadow network” that it alleged helps fund the IRGC and its regional proxies.
The strikes mark the second major US operation targeting Iran’s maritime infrastructure in three days. On September 5, US forces reportedly destroyed three Iranian crude oil carriers after the IRGC attempted to attack a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer.
Meanwhile, Iran has launched a barrage of missiles targeting US military positions in Jordan. The IRGC has also warned tanker crews at ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels immediately.
“In light of the atrocities of the American terrorist army in targeting several tankers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we warn all tanker crews in the Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, which host these terrorists and are partners in their atrocities, to immediately leave their vessels, whether at anchor or at the ports, because they will be targeted,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement, according to Iran’s state broadcaster, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).
The latest developments mark a sharp escalation in the confrontation between the US and Iran, raising fresh concerns over the security of commercial shipping and energy supplies across the Gulf region.
