USA and Iran escalate conflict over Strait of Hormuz with attacks on tankers and military targets

Washington/Tehran/Amman. The fight between the USA and Iran for control in the Strait of Hormuz is escalating again. The US military said it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers and sank one in retaliation for Tehran's attacks on a US warship. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they responded immediately with “heavy missile attacks” on the US-allied Kingdom of Jordan. According to the Jordanian state news agency Petra, the army intercepted 20 ballistic missiles.

After the attacks on the Iranian crude oil tankers, the responsible US regional command Centcom announced on the X platform that the tanker “M/T Riesco” was sinking in the Gulf of Oman. It published a video showing the ship being hit, catching fire and then sinking bow first. There was no information as to whether the tanker was carrying crude oil.

The renewed retaliatory strike against Iranian tankers came after the Revolutionary Guards attacked a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in the past two days, Centcom said. The US warship was not hit. The Iranian state news agency Irna quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying that the US cruise missile-equipped destroyers DDG-119 and DDG-53 had been targeted.

The fact that Iran is also targeting U.S. Navy ships raises fears that it is using more advanced weapons and may be receiving assistance from China or Russia in locating the warships, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal. The Secretary General of the National Security Council in Iran, Mohsen Resai, had previously reported the first use of a new type of anti-ship missile. Resai spoke on state radio of an “important warning to the enemy” that the naval blockade imposed by the USA on Iranian ports was vulnerable.

Centcom said the tankers attacked by the US in retaliation were “part of a shadow network” with billions of dollars in revenue that financed the Revolutionary Guard. The crew had previously been asked to abandon the ships. Iranian media had previously reported several explosions off the island of Kharg in the Persian Gulf and near the port city of Jask on the Strait of Hormuz. The most important export terminal for shipping Iranian oil is located on Kharg.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Tehran against further attacks: "Iran continues to try to attack US Navy ships, and every time they do or try to do so, they will lose tankers," Rubio said during a visit to Colombia. It was only on Saturday that the US military announced that it had attacked three Iranian oil tankers.

According to the Fars news agency, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards claimed to have hit the US Al-Asrak base there in their own retaliatory attacks on Jordan. Maintenance facilities and a base for US F-35, F-16 and F-15 fighter jets were attacked with ballistic missiles. Considerable damage was caused. According to the Iranian news agency Tasnim, there were several explosions at two US bases in Jordan. The US military did not comment. Jordan's Petra agency said only that the rocket attacks had been repelled. No information was given about the destinations.

The leadership in Tehran has repeatedly signaled that it will respond to the growing pressure from the USA with further escalation and will not give in, wrote Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz on The Islamic Republic will also not allow ever higher economic costs to be imposed on it without costing the USA itself dearly.

The crucial question for US President Donald Trump's administration is no longer whether Iran will respond to additional pressure, "but rather how far both sides are willing to climb a ladder of escalation that neither appears to be able to control," Citrinowicz wrote.

During the recent Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz has become the central point of contention between Washington and Tehran: Iran is still largely blocking traffic through the strait, which is important for the transport of oil, natural gas and fertilizer, with threats and attacks on ships. Before the war, the sea route was open to shipping traffic. As a result of the blockade and price increases in the USA, Trump is also under strong domestic political pressure before the important parliamentary elections in November.