United States Destroys Five Iranian Oil Tankers Near Kharg Island After IRGC Missile Attacks

Tankers struck, Jordan hit

The United States destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sought to target a U.S. warship with ballistic missiles twice over two days, and CENTCOM said the vessel “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks”. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. forces stationed at the Al Azraq base in Jordan, where Jordan’s Armed Forces said its air defences engaged 20 ballistic missiles and “successfully intercepting and destroying 18 of them”. 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’s IRIB state broadcaster confirmed the attack near Kharg Island and reported that the crew was evacuated, while it also said a second tanker was hit near the southern port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman. The exchange came as Tehran maintained the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Washington enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and the hostilities briefly drove oil prices to $99.46 earlier on Tuesday.

Reporting for this sectionAl Jazeera

Retaliation threats and intercepts

In Jordan, the Jordanian military said it intercepted 18 of the 20 ballistic missiles launched toward its territory and that two others fell in places where no one lives, while it said it has no reports of casualties.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on a visit to Colombia that “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers”.

Iran’s IRGC threatened further maritime action by warning crews of oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports to immediately abandon their vessels, saying “We warn all the crews of oil tankers in the Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports… to immediately abandon their vessels”.

The IRGC also claimed that hangars used by U.S. fighter jets were destroyed in the attacks and said earlier ballistic missile attacks on the U.S. Navy DDG-119 and DDG-53 destroyers caused “significant damage… to these vessels”.

An Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Danny Citrinowicz, warned that “There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” adding that every attempt to impose one brings Washington and Tehran closer to escalation.

Reporting for this sectionReutersCBC

Strait of Hormuz stakes

The confrontation unfolded as both the U.S. and Iran sought to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began on Feb. 28, and the U.S. military said its strikes were part of a broader effort to ramp up economic pressure.

The U.S. approach included a naval blockade of Iranian ports and escort operations for commercial vessels through the key waterway, while the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines and foreign cargo service providers.

Iran warned that it would keep responding to attacks on its oil shipping, and the IRGC said its operations would continue as long as Washington continued its attacks on Iranian oil tankers.

The IRGC also threatened to target oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, and it warned crews to evacuate immediately, while Jordan’s air defences said two missiles fell in unpopulated areas and that no casualties were reported.

As the cycle of strikes widened beyond tankers to military infrastructure, the Reuters account said the war intensified with Iranian-backed Houthis launching strikes on four Saudi cities, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze, further entangling the region’s conflict.

Reporting for this sectionCBCReuters