The United States attacked three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iran launched ballistic missiles at two Navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, according to the US Central Command (Centcom), marking a significant escalation as the fight for control of the Strait of Hormuz intensifies.
"A US aircraft carrier and missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks," said Centcom, which oversees US forces in the Middle East.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has launched ballistic missiles at U.S. forces throughout the conflict, but the attempted attack on the warships was considered a major escalation, U.S. officials said.
"Let the message to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be clear: if you fire on two of our ships, we will impose an even greater economic cost on you by shooting down three of yours," said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Centcom. "We will not hesitate to defend US forces and, if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and vulnerable oil fleet."
The United States began attacking Iranian oil tankers earlier this week as part of a new strategy to punish Tehran and undermine its ability to transport oil, according to US officials. US forces also attacked two oil tankers on Tuesday as part of a broader wave of attacks, according to a video released by Centcom.
Separately, a fleet of American warships is imposing a blockade on Iranian ports. As of this week, the US had diverted 87 commercial vessels, disabled three and boarded two to ensure full compliance, according to Centcom.
Clashes had already intensified this week after the US announced that it had removed sea mines from the main shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, and while the White House claims that the army is helping more ships transit the Persian Gulf loaded with crude oil. The US blockade remains in force.
Iranian state media reported that an oil tanker was hit overnight near Kharg Island, where Iran stores and loads most of its crude oil exports.
The United States said it had disabled that tanker, as well as another near Iran's Jask oil terminal. Additionally, the United States "completely destroyed" an unladen oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, hitting it multiple times to render it inoperable after the crew was ordered to abandon ship, Centcom reported.
The latest wave of fighting in this waterway comes after the US and Iran exchanged intense fire there earlier in the week, as both nations fight to control it.
Iran began attacking ships in the corridor in the early days of the war, and did so again after signing a preliminary agreement with the US in mid-June to open the strait, in protest of US efforts to guide ships through it.
In recent days, Iran attacked two tankers carrying oil from Saudi Arabia within minutes of each other, while they were trying to cross the strait at midnight.
Both were sailing through the corridor that the US has established near the coast of Oman to break Iran's control over the sea route.
Iran also attacked a Kuwaiti oil tanker a week earlier, one of more than a dozen it fired on in August.
The United States says it is escorting several ships a day through the strait to help ease pressure on global oil supplies. Ships often cross at night with their transponders turned off, making it difficult to track them.
The military declared in late August that Navy SEALs, backed by other forces, had successfully cleared the waterway, part of an effort to get more ships past Iranian control.
The United States launched a wave of airstrikes along Iran's Persian Gulf coast last week — the first in a month — demonstrating its determination to win the fight for control of Hormuz.
These included attacks on air defenses, radar sites, communications infrastructure and maritime assets, the military said.
The United States had avoided responding to Iranian attacks on ships throughout the month of August, abandoning military action in favor of economic pressure to suffocate Iran. But that restraint had worried Gulf allies, whose economies are being hurt by the fighting and attacks on their oil exports.
Iran's control over the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war was the gateway for a fifth of the world's oil, has been a major source of leverage for Tehran both in the war and in negotiations to end it.
Its own oil exports have been blocked for weeks by the US blockade, while Gulf oil exports manage to get through, increasing pressure on the regime.
