U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy ships, the U.S. military said.
The United States military retaliated on Saturday against what it termed a shadow network helping to fund Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and its armed proxies in the region. U..S. Central Command confirmed that American forces permanently disabled two crude oil carriers and destroyed a third vessel following an unprovoked missile assault on U.S. warships patrolling regional waters.
Missile Attacks on Navy Warships Trigger Retaliation
The military escalation unfolded after a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks launched by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to official reports, no American personnel were harmed during the engagement.
In response, American forces struck three separate oil tankers across distinct maritime zones. Central Command stated that the M/T Downy was hit off the coast of Kharg Island, the M/T Stark 1 was disabled near Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz, and the unladen M/T Kylo was destroyed in the Gulf of Oman. The Kylo was not carrying oil at the time, and its crew was directed to abandon the vessel before American forces struck it in multiple locations.
Strategic Importance of Kharg Island and Regional Shipping
Earlier, Iranian state television reported that four U.S. missiles struck a tanker about six miles (10 kilometers) from Kharg Island, which serves as a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil. The strategic island, a tiny site located 15 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, plays a central role in the country’s oil industry and houses military capabilities including air defenses and mines buried underground.
Kharg Island has repeatedly emerged as a flashpoint during the conflict. Petras Katinas, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, previously told NBC News that Kharg is the “backbone” of Iran’s oil trade infrastructure and the primary gateway for the country’s oil reserves. While U.S. forces struck military targets on the island in March but deliberately spared its oil infrastructure, President Donald Trump said at the time that the U.S. could target the energy facilities if Iran continued interfering with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Diplomatic Condemnation and Escalating Regional Conflict
Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the U.S. strikes, calling them illegal and aggressive
and accusing Washington of waging a naval blockade and economic war against Iran. In a statement carried by Iranian state media IRIB, the ministry said the attacks violated the United Nations Charter and constituted a war crime and a threat to international peace and commercial shipping.
The renewed naval clash comes after a day when President Donald Trump sought to minimize the conflict as “small potatoes” and keeps up a new tilt back toward fighting after six months of on-again, off-again war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28. Both sides have sought to inflict both military and economic pain, and negotiations have collapsed. The resumption of fighting came after new U.S. efforts to apply economic pressures on Tehran, whose hard-line new senior leaders have signaled the willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions. The issue that helped lead to the war — Iran’s nuclear program — was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June.
That Iran targeted a U.S. aircraft carrier with a ballistic missile “indicates that Tehran is becoming increasingly willing to accept risks it previously sought to avoid, including directly threatening some of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.”
The strikes came nearly a week after the U.S. and Iran resumed attacks following a month of relative calm, with the strait and Iranian communities along it again being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S. bombardment of southern Iran, and one strike hit a wedding. The U.S. military has been helping to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran asserts control and targets some vessels, but overall traffic remains low.
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