U.S. denies Iranian claim of striking American vessels amid escalating Gulf conflict

The U.S. has denied a claim by Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps that its forces struck two American vessels.

The IRGC had said it struck the ships, along with eight oil tankers in the Gulf, in retaliation against the U.S. for destroying five Iranian tankers on Tuesday. It 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.

But the U.S. Central Command responded later on Wednesday, saying: "No U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed."

"Meanwhile, U.S. forces have successfully destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in just the last week. These vessels were part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC, and Iran cannot defend them," Centcom added on X.

The conflict that has pushed Brent crude to $100 a barrel on Wednesday, as the two sides traded strikes along one of the world's most critical oil corridors.

The U.S. strikes on Iranian crude oil tankers on Tuesday followed the IRGC firing ballistic missiles at an American warship twice over the past two days, according to Centcom.

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

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.