WASHINGTON, Sept 9: The US military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday after attacks on American warships, while Iran retaliated by launching missiles towards US targets in Jordan, marking another escalation in the more than six-month-old conflict.
Iranian state media reported that Tehran launched missiles towards American targets in Jordan following the US strikes. Jordan’s military said its air defence systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles heading towards its territory, while two others fell in uninhabited areas. No casualties were reported.
Jordan, a close US ally, hosts American forces and military bases that have been targeted repeatedly by Iran during the conflict.
The latest exchange came as President Donald Trump’s administration pursued both military and economic measures aimed at pressuring Tehran and bringing the war to an end.
The US on Tuesday also announced sanctions targeting more than two dozen Iranian commercial and private airlines, along with foreign cargo service providers, as part of efforts to further isolate Iran economically.
The conflict has also intensified around the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war. Rising energy prices have added political pressure on the Trump administration ahead of the November midterm elections, with Brent crude briefly touching $99.46 a barrel on Tuesday.
US forces had destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to attack a US aircraft carrier and destroyer with ballistic missiles.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Washington would continue responding to attacks on American naval vessels.
“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,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
US Central Command said the latest strikes were carried out after Iranian forces targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the previous two days. The warship evaded the attacks and continued its patrol, with no American personnel injured.
According to the command, the tankers destroyed on Tuesday were Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, while the Derya was struck near Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Crews were reportedly warned to abandon the vessels before the attacks.
Iranian state television confirmed that US forces had struck several oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and Kharg Island, saying their crews had been evacuated. It reported that one tanker was hit near Yekbeni, another off Jask and a third near the Kharg Island anchorage.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy later warned crews aboard oil tankers near Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels, saying they could be targeted in retaliation for the US attacks. Tehran accused the two Gulf states of hosting American forces and assisting Washington.
The US blockade of Iranian ports has further squeezed Tehran’s economy by restricting oil exports. At the same time, American forces have been assisting a limited number of vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz along a route off Oman.
Iran has sought to control the route taken by ships through the strait, which was regarded as international waters before the conflict.
Iran expert Danny Citrinowicz of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies warned that the escalating tit-for-tat strikes could trigger further retaliation and deepen the impact on the global economy.
“There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” he said, warning that attempts to resolve the issue through military force could push Washington and Tehran towards an escalation that becomes increasingly difficult to control.
