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Tankers hit after missile fire
U.S. and Iranian forces fired at vessels in waters around Iran on Saturday, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships, with U.S. Central Command saying it struck three Iranian oil carriers including one off the coast of Kharg Island.
“including three Iranian oil carriers struck by the Americans”
CENTCOM said the U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer “successfully evaded multiple Iranian attacks,” and it reported that no American personnel were harmed.
CENTCOM said it permanently disabled the M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask, while it said the unladen M/T Kylo, also known as the “Noxen,” was completely destroyed in the Gulf of Oman after its crew was directed to abandon ship.
Iran’s IRGC responded by threatening intensified strikes against U.S. military vessels in the region and later said it targeted the three tankers as well as three U.S.-linked vessels in other areas.
The exchange followed a wider escalation in the past week that Reuters said threatens to deepen a conflict continuing since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from a majority of Americans before congressional elections in November.
Threats, warnings, and radio
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, said, “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,” as the U.S. framed the strikes as retaliation for missile attacks on Navy warships.
CNN reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on X, “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers,” and it said Iran’s foreign affairs ministry condemned the U.S. actions as “illegal and aggressive” and an “overt threat to international peace and the security of commercial shipping.”
CNN also described audio confirmed by the network in which a U.S. aircraft issued warnings to the ship, including “Motor Tanker STARK 1, this is the United States military aircraft. I am preparing to fire at your stern.”
In the same CNN account, the later warning told the crew, “This was your final warning … get into your lifeboats and abandon the ship immediately.”
Iran International and other outlets also circulated footage of warnings to the Stark 1 shortly before it was attacked, with the U.S. voice saying, “You have three minutes to evacuate your personnel from the stern of your vessel.”
Shipping war and escalation risk
The Reuters account tied the Saturday exchange to a broader contest over the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. imposed its blockade of Iranian oil exports after Iran effectively shut the strait, a waterway that Reuters said carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
“Brent crude futures closed at their highest level since July 24 on Friday, at $96.28 a barrel”
Reuters reported that Brent crude futures closed at their highest level since July 24 on Friday, at $96.28 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East drove global supply concerns.
Kurdistan24 said the strikes came after Iranian media reported explosions near Kharg Island, and it described the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar “shadow network” generating revenue for the IRGC and its regional proxies.
Euronews reported that the IRGC claimed it targeted three oil tankers and three US-affiliated vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday evening, warning other vessels against attempting to use routes Tehran had not authorised.
Euronews also said Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the attacks a war crime and said the consequences for continued U.S. aggression, including “economic warfare,” would rest with Washington and its allies, as the cycle of violence continued to intensify in the key waterway.