“The United States military said Saturday its forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two US Navy warships. The fresh exchanges threaten to heighten a shipping war in and beyond the Persian Gulf, as Iran seeks to prevent shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz without”, — write on: www.cnn.com
The United States military said Saturday its forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two US Navy warships.
The fresh exchanges threaten to heighten a shipping war in and beyond the Persian Gulf, as Iran seeks to prevent shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz without its consent and the US steps up targeting of Iranian shipping.
The two sides traded strikes earlier this week for the first time in over a month, and the new attacks risk another retaliatory cycle.
“A U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks,” US Central Command said in a statement Saturday.
In response, US forces “permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask.”
Outside the Persian Gulf, according to CENTCOM, an unladen crude tanker called the M/T Kylo was “completely destroyed” after being hit multiple times to render it inoperable.
CENTCOM said the ships “are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.”
“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,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote Saturday on X, “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is stop shooting at @USNavy.”
Hegseth added that the US could strike Iran’s oil tanker fleet in the Middle East or in the Indo-Pacific region, writing, “Iran’s oil tanker fleet is defenseless — Iran has no navy or air force.”