The US Army attacked three Iranian oil tankers this Saturday, in response, Washington authorities said, to ballistic missiles fired at two US warships patrolling in the area. There were no victims in any of these incidents, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) in a message published on the X social network in the morning (Washington time, six more in mainland Spain).
Following these failed Iranian attacks, the US military “disabled” an oil tanker off the coast of the strategic island of Kharg; another near the town of Jask, at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz; and a third in the Gulf of Oman. The crew of that last ship was ordered to abandon it before the attack.
Hours earlier, Iranian media had reported explosions near the Iranian island of Kharg in the Persian Gulf. The Tasnim news agency, linked to the Revolutionary Guard, the parallel army that supports the Islamic regime, had reported early on Saturday that it was an American attack and that the crew was safe.
“Let the message be clear: if you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even greater economic cost on you, sinking three of yours,” Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, with influence in the Middle East area, said in X. “We will not hesitate to defend US forces and, if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and vulnerable oil fleet,” he added.
The message was accompanied by a video of what appear to be images of the three attacks, with a label that says “Declassified.”
For now there has been no official Iranian confirmation in this regard. The island of Jarg managed 90% of Iran's oil exports before the war started by the United States and Israel on February 28, more than half a year ago, and with no exit in sight. An offensive on its facilities would seriously affect its economy, already damaged by Washington's blockade and sanctions.
Crossed threats
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has threatened on several occasions in recent months to raze Jarg. In a common provocation for him, he published on his social network, Truth, a video made with artificial intelligence that shows the fictitious destruction of the island. The Iranian regime has repeatedly assured that it will respond firmly to any attack against the island.
On Friday, in a meeting with the White House press, Trump also threatened again to attack Pickaxe Mountain in Iran, located near the Natanz uranium enrichment complex. It is an underground and highly protected facility where, according to the United States, Iran is dedicated to enrichment for military purposes.
Natanz was in June of last year, along with Fordo and Isfahan, one of the three targets of the Trump Administration's first attack against Iran, in which Israel was also involved and which broke decades of Washington's policy of containment with the old rival. Then, the president of the United States defended that these bombings had served to “annihilate” the Iranian nuclear program, an assertion that was quickly denied.
Saturday's incident in Jarg follows a week of cross-attacks between the two countries. On Monday, Washington attacked Iran for the first time since July with the aim of countering “attempts of aggression” against commercial shipping in the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which before the war a fifth of the world's hydrocarbon trade transited. This bottleneck has become the main measure of pressure for Tehran, since it has managed to paralyze a large part of oil exports from the Persian Gulf. Meanwhile, the US Navy has been helping ships navigate a southern route through the strait, near the coast of Oman.
The vice president of the United States, J. D Vance, took the podium of the White House press room on Thursday, vacant since the resignation of spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, to warn that dialogue will not be possible until Iran "stops attacking commercial ships." Vance also blamed Iran exclusively (and not his Administration's lack of calculation) for the high price of gasoline in the United States, which threatens to complicate next November's legislative elections for the Republican Party.
At least twenty Iranians have been killed in various US bombings this week, including at least four civilians who were attending a wedding on Tuesday in the small coastal town of Kuhestak, in the province of Hormozgan, facing the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded to these attacks and announced bombings against several of the Persian Gulf countries that host US military facilities or personnel such as Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
