U.S. Strikes Three Iran-Linked Oil Tankers as Tehran Vows Tougher Reprisals
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces destroyed three oil tankers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday, answering what Washington described as failed missile attacks on American warships. Iran’s response came later in the day, with the Guards saying they had targeted three oil tankers on an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz and three other vessels connected to the United States.
The latest round of clashes began with U.S. raids last week and now threatens to deepen a six-month maritime confrontation. Iran has kept its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that once carried about one-fifth of the world’s oil, while Washington has pressed what it casts as a counter-blockade of Iranian ports and a wider campaign to cut off the Islamic Republic’s revenues.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command said its forces had “permanently disabled” the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask. A third vessel, the unladen crude carrier M/T Kylo, was “completely destroyed” in the Gulf of Oman after the crew was directed to abandon ship, the command said. Video released by CENTCOM showed fireballs and thick columns of smoke rising from the stricken ships.
Describing the vessels as part of “a multibillion-dollar shadow network” that finances the Guards and their regional proxies, CENTCOM’s commander, Adm. Brad Cooper, said: “If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours.”
Tehran appeared unshaken. The IRGC announced later that its naval forces had struck three oil tankers using an unauthorized route through the strait and three vessels affiliated with “child-killing America” elsewhere. It warned other ships not to attempt to transit by unapproved routes.
U.S. Central Command did not immediately answer questions about the Iranian claims. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which monitors regional shipping, issued no immediate reports of civilian tankers being targeted in the strait. Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the U.S. strikes as “illegal and aggressive actions.”
State television offered a more detailed account of the damage. In Jask, near the strategic waterway, a correspondent said one of the tankers had been empty and another was carrying oil, with crew members taken ashore in lifeboats. On Kharg Island, another report said the attack caused no casualties. Iran’s Khatam-al Anbiya central military command later warned that if U.S. attacks continued, retaliation against American warships would be “more severe than before, and there is a possibility of their expansion.”
For all its military activity, the Trump administration has tried to keep the confrontation from becoming a dominant political issue ahead of midterm elections. Vice President JD Vance said he “wouldn’t call it a war,” and President Donald Trump echoed that view Friday, calling the Iran war “small potatoes” for Washington.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, has offered a different reading, saying Tehran adopted a “new strategy” against Washington in the conflict that “will shatter your foundations.”
The confrontation remains centered on the Strait of Hormuz, where a fragile ceasefire collapsed in July after attacks on commercial shipping. Trump has repeatedly suggested that the United States could claim sovereignty over the strait, going so far as to post a map labeling it “new U.S. territory.” Vance has also insisted that talks with Iran cannot resume until attacks on commercial shipping cease.
Political calculations complicate that message. Fuel prices are already threatening the Republican Party’s grip on Congress, and the administration has begun trying to project that oil traffic through the strait is returning to prewar levels. “Their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone,” Vance said Thursday.
Saturday’s strike also reflected Washington’s broader pivot toward economic pressure. On Friday, the Treasury Department announced sanctions on a Turkish bank over its alleged ties to the IRGC, a week after taking a step toward cutting an Egyptian bank’s operations in the United Arab Emirates off from the U.S. financial system. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has outlined plans for the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran and warned of consequences for countries that decline to join the American pressure campaign.