DUBAI(National Times)- US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command said, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s key oil export hub.
The strikes were carried out after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships, 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,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command.
Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, reported earlier that four US missiles hit a tanker in the area of Kharg’s anchorage. Tasnim quoted local sources as saying there were no casualties and the tanker’s crew was being evacuated. No American personnel were harmed, Central Command said.
In a statement on X, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran’s oil tanker fleet was “defenceless” after American forces struck three of them today. In a post on X, Hegseth reiterated the US claim that Iran had no navy or air force, writing, “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is not shoot at [the US Navy]. He added that US submarines, warships and warplanes could “strike them all” within the Central Command and Pacific Command areas of responsibility.
Iran warns against blockade
A spokesperson for the Iranian military’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters has warned that if the US continues its naval blockade and “harassment of Iranian ships”, then Iran will carry out more severe and potentially expanded strikes targeting American military vessels, Al Jazeera reported, citing a statement. The statement, carried by Iranian broadcaster IRIB, comes after the US claimed to have hit three Iranian oil tankers.
The exchange of attacks followed an escalation in the past week that threatened to deepen a conflict that had dragged on since the US launched strikes on Iran in February, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from a majority of Americans before congressional elections in November.
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Bahrain urged citizens to ‘exercise heightened vigilance’ in a security alert. “The US embassy reminds American citizens that Iran has previously targeted civilian infrastructure in Bahrain, including hotels in Manama,” the alert said, instructing US nationals to prepare for “potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions”.
Kharg Island
US President Donald Trump said on August 31 in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video that Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens”. Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90 per cent of its crude via Kharg Island before the war, but flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.
Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, but then said a threatened US military operation there was off the table for now, days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17. A US attack on Kharg would further pressure Iran’s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the US naval blockade.
