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Missiles, then tanker strikes
The United States struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships operating in the region, according to U.S. Central Command.
“"permanently disabled" a tanker near Kharg Island”
CENTCOM said an American aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple attacks and that no American personnel were injured, before U.S. forces retaliated by attacking three Iranian crude oil carriers.
BBC reported CENTCOM said it had "permanently disabled" a tanker near Kharg Island and another near the Strait of Hormuz, and "completely destroyed" a third in the Gulf of Oman.
Reuters reported the strikes were carried out including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s key oil export hub, and said there was no immediate official announcement by Iranian authorities.
Threats and competing narratives
CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper warned the IRGC with a message that if it shot at two U.S. ships, Washington would impose "an even higher economic cost - taking out three of yours," and said "We will not hesitate to defend American forces" and, if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.
The Hill framed the exchange as retaliatory strikes carried out in response to "multiple unprovoked" Iranian attacks on two U.S. Navy warships, and it quoted Cooper saying, "Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours," in a statement shared on social media.
BBC said Iranian state media earlier reported that one of its tankers had been struck off the coast of Kharg Island, while Tehran did not immediately acknowledge attacks on U.S. ships.
CNN described the new exchanges as threatening to heighten a shipping war in and beyond the Persian Gulf as Iran seeks to prevent shipping transiting the Strait of Hormuz without its consent and the U.S. steps up targeting of Iranian shipping.
Kharg, Hormuz, and escalation risk
The strikes centered on Kharg Island, which NBC News described as a tiny but strategic island 15 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf that plays a central role in the country’s oil industry and has repeatedly emerged as a flashpoint during the conflict.
“15 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf”
NBC News said U.S. forces struck military targets on Kharg Island in March but deliberately spared its oil infrastructure, and it reported that Kharg is critical to Iran’s finances as the “backbone” of Iran’s oil trade infrastructure and the primary gateway for the country’s oil reserves.
Reuters reported that the U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April and that the U.S. imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
BBC added that a 60-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran formally expired last month, with little sign of a further diplomatic settlement on the horizon, as the conflict over the strait has raised energy prices globally.