Iran's Revolutionary Guards Claim Strikes on U.S. Vessels and Oil Tankers in Gulf Retaliation

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps said Wednesday they struck two American vessels and eight oil tankers in the Gulf, retaliating against the U.S. striking five Iranian tankers.

The claim marks the latest exchange in a conflict that has pushed Brent crude to near $100 a barrel, as the two sides exchange strikes along one of the world's most critical oil corridors.

The IRGC said the targeted vessels had attempted to cross an area of the Hormuz Strait it had designated "forbidden and unsafe," according to a statement published by semi-official Tasnim News Agency.

The U.S. military on Tuesday destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers, responding to the IRGC firing ballistic missiles at an American warship twice over the past two days, according to U.S. Central Command.

The U.S. warship successfully evaded Iranian attack and no American personnel were harmed, Centcom said in a statement.

U.S. forces struck four tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Centcom said. They are the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco. The military hit the M/T Derya near Iran's Kharg Island.

"American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable," Centcom said.

The U.S. and Iran have traded new attacks in the Persian Gulf in recent days, rekindling hostilities in the region even as the Trump administration shifts its strategy toward defeating Tehran economically.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a post on X late Tuesday, dismissed the U.S. sanctions as a rehash of a failed strategy. "After failing to achieve its aims through sanctions or war, Washington's 'novel' solution is…more sanctions. Seriously?"

The U.S. military destroyed three Iranian tankers on Saturday in retaliation for the Guard firing ballistic missiles at an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer. Those attacks also failed, Centcom said.

Earlier Tuesday, Centcom said an unmanned submersible that Iran reportedly seized in the Strait of Hormuz was "defective" and carried no sensitive data or classified equipment.

"An underwater drone operated by U.S. forces malfunctioned more than a day ago," U.S. Navy Captain Tim Hawkins told CNBC in a statement shared by U.S. Central Command.

The drone "was surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations," Hawkins said, adding, "U.S. operations in area waters continue."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard had boasted earlier Tuesday that it trapped and captured "one of the most modern, intelligent, unmanned submarines of the American terrorist army at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz," according to a translated post from Iranian state news outlet Fars.

Fars later posted videos and images purporting to show the vessel out of the water.

But Hawkins' statement insisted that the drone was hardly a crucial piece of cutting-edge military tech.

"The defective drone was an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment," the captain's statement said.

Iranian media outlets described the sub as a Dive-LD, an autonomous undersea vehicle developed by U.S. defense contractor Anduril. They cost $2.5 million each, DefenseScoop reported in 2024.

"Dive-LD is an attritable autonomous system, meaning it is designed from the outset to operate in dangerous environments where loss of the vehicle is an expected possibility," an Anduril spokesperson told CNBC when asked about the drone seizure. "Its purpose is to keep warfighters out of the most dangerous parts of the undersea mission. This vehicle had already delivered significant value operating thousands of hours in months-long operations in CENTCOM."

The spotlight on the watercraft offers the latest example of the U.S. military's increasing dependence on autonomous tech to fight the war in the Middle East.

This summer, unmanned boat startup Saronic used one of its drone vessels to rescue crew from a helicopter downed in the Hormuz Strait. Saronic's boats were later used in a strike on an Iranian submarine and ship facility.

— CNBC's Samantha Subin contributed to this report.