The U.S. military said Tuesday it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in retaliation after the IRGC twice attempted to strike a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles over the preceding two days. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the targeted warship successfully evaded both attacks and continued patrolling regional waters, with no American personnel harmed in either incident. According to CENTCOM, four of the tankers were struck in the Gulf of Oman, while a fifth was hit near Iran's Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

The vessels were identified as M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and M/T Derya near Kharg Island. CENTCOM said American forces directed the tankers' crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable, and described the ships as part of what it called a "multibillion-dollar shadow network" used to fund the IRGC and its regional proxy groups.

Iranian state television also reported the strikes, saying U.S. forces had attacked tankers near the southern port of Jask as well as near Kharg Island, and confirmed that crews had been evacuated. Iran's Revolutionary Guard, in a statement carried by the semi-official Fars news agency, claimed that two American warships had been struck and damaged in the earlier missile attacks, an assertion that conflicts directly with CENTCOM's account that the U.S. vessel evaded the strikes without damage or casualties.

Tuesday's strikes mark the latest escalation in a rapidly intensifying confrontation between Washington and Tehran. They follow a similar U.S. operation on September 5, when CENTCOM said it struck three additional Iranian oil tankers after the IRGC launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy vessels, including an aircraft carrier, a notably provocative target. CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper had warned at the time that any further Iranian attacks would be met with escalating consequences, stating that the U.S. would impose a higher economic cost by destroying more of Iran's tanker fleet in response to each attempted strike.

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The exchange comes months after President Donald Trump announced what he described as "major combat operations" against Iran on February 28, involving joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on military, government and infrastructure targets. Diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran, based on a memorandum of understanding, began in June in an effort to negotiate an end to hostilities, though the renewed strikes this week suggest those efforts have failed to halt the underlying conflict. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, responding to questions from reporters during a visit to Colombia, said the U.S. would continue responding forcefully to Iranian attacks, warning that Iran would keep losing tankers for every attempted strike on American vessels.

In response to the latest U.S. strikes, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy issued a warning to oil tanker crews operating near the ports of Kuwait and Bahrain, threatening to target vessels there in retaliation, accusing the two countries of hosting and enabling American military operations in the region. The escalating standoff has also driven global oil prices sharply higher, with Brent crude trading near a seven-week high of $97 per barrel amid growing concern over the safety of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical routes for global oil shipments, as the confrontation between the two nations shows no sign of near-term resolution.

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