Iran · updated 1h ago · 3 min read
United States Attacks Five Iranian Oil Tankers in Gulf of Oman After Missile Attacks on Warship
US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island. Strikes followed Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at a U.S. warship over two days.
How Jordan describes effectiveness: missiles intercepted and where others fell.
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Same story, two versions
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Al Jazeera
“Amman said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 18 of 20 Iranian missiles, while the rest fell in open areas.”Read the original ↗
NBC News
“Jordanian air defense systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles and two missiles fell in unpopulated areas, the spokesperson for the Jordanian armed forces said”Read the original ↗
Both give 18/20 interceptions, but differ on characterisation of where remaining missiles fell.
Tankers struck, Jordan hit
The United States attacked five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island after accusing Tehran of launching ballistic missiles at a U.S. warship twice in two days, and CENTCOM said the vessel “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks”.
“No American personnel were harmed”
CENTCOM said it retaliated by striking and destroying the Iranian oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island, and it added that “No American personnel were harmed”.
Iran responded to Tuesday’s attacks by firing missiles at U.S. forces stationed at the Al Azraq base in Jordan, while Jordan’s Armed Forces said its air defences engaged 20 ballistic missiles and destroyed 18 of them.
The exchange unfolded amid escalating tensions in the Gulf, with Tehran maintaining the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Washington enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports.
In a warning delivered on state television, Iran’s chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Ali Abdollahi, said, “any attack on Iranian oil tankers will result in the targeting of US bases in the region”.
Competing claims and quotes
Jordan’s Armed Forces said it intercepted and destroyed 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, while two missiles “fell in unpopulated areas,” according to a Jordanian Armed Forces spokesperson reported by the BBC.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a trip to Colombia that “Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships. And, for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers”.
Iran’s warning to tanker crews near Kuwait and Bahrain was echoed in the BBC report, which said Iran urged crews to “immediately leave their vessels whether at anchor or at the ports because they will be targeted”.
Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, warned that the back-and-forth strikes can only risk more retaliation and further impact to the global economy, saying, “There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem”.
The BBC also described the tit-for-tat escalation as occurring more than six months after the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February, with oil prices rising in early trading in Asia.
Economic stakes and next moves
The fighting sharpened the economic stakes as the hostilities briefly drove oil prices to $99.46 earlier on Tuesday, and the BBC reported Brent crude was up by 1.5% at $99.41 a barrel.
“$99.46 earlier on Tuesday”
The BBC said Kharg Island hosts Iran’s main terminal for exporting oil and that “Some 90% of the country’s crude oil passes through the island,” transported through pipes from the mainland.
In parallel, the U.S. framed its strikes as part of a broader effort to pressure Tehran, with the BBC reporting that in response to the latest escalation the U.S. said the five tankers it targeted were “part of a multi-billion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies”.
The AP reported that the latest burst of back-and-forth strikes lurched the sides back toward open hostilities in a more than 6-month-old war, and it said Jordan has no reports of casualties after intercepting 18 ballistic missiles and seeing two fall in places where no one lives.
Looking ahead, the AP said Iran later planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit, while the BBC reported Iran had warned of further retaliatory strikes and urged crews near Kuwait and Bahrain to leave immediately.