US attacks three Iranian oil tankers as Tehran retaliates

The United States said Saturday that it had destroyed three Iranian oil tankers, and Tehran answered with claims of retaliatory attacks on vessels linked to Washington. The exchanges unfolded as the two sides remained locked in a war that began on February 28 with a U.S. and Israeli offensive against Iran.

The U.S. military said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard had opened fire on American warships before the strikes. U.S. Central Command said the tankers were attacked off the coast of Khark Island and in the Gulf of Oman. One tanker was hit after its crew had been ordered to abandon the vessel, the military said. A video released by Centcom showed seven fireballs following missile impacts on the ships.

The military described the targets as part of a “multibillion-dollar clandestine network that finances” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its regional partners. No U.S. service member was wounded. Centcom commander Admiral Brad Cooper said, “Let the message to the IRGC be clear: if they fire on two of our ships, we will impose an even greater economic cost by eliminating three of theirs.”

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Let the message to the IRGC be clear: if they fire on two of our ships, we will impose an even greater economic cost by eliminating three of theirs.

Iranian officials strongly condemned the strikes on the country’s main oil port, calling them “illegal and aggressive actions.” The Khatam al-Anbiya joint central military command warned that attacks on U.S. military vessels in the region would be harder than before and could expand if the hostilities continued.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard later said it had attacked three tankers traveling on an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels affiliated with the United States. It also warned other ships against attempting to use unauthorized maritime routes. Tehran had previously said it attacked U.S. military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for the deaths of civilians at a wedding hit by enemy bombing. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said that incident was under investigation but expressed skepticism toward Iran’s account.

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illegal and aggressive actions