New York : The US struck five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Iran’s Kharg Island on Tuesday after accusing Tehran of targeting a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice for the past two days. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the American warship successfully evaded both Iranian attacks and continued operating in regional waters. CENTCOM said US forces struck five vessels allegedly linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) oil-smuggling network.
US forces ordered the crews to abandon the vessels before carrying out the strikes, rendering the tankers inoperable, the military said. “The US warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” CENTCOM said. CENTCOM accused Iran of using the vessels as part of a multibillion-dollar “shadow fleet” that helps fund the IRGC and its regional proxy groups. “Iran has used the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies,” CENTCOM said, adding that Iran had no means to defend the vessels.
Iran responded to the US strikes by launching missiles at US forces stationed at the Al Azraq air base in Jordan, according to Al Jazeera. Jordanian authorities said their air defences intercepted and destroyed 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, while the remaining two fell in open areas. The IRGC claimed it carried out “fierce missile strikes” against Al Azraq and said hangars used by US fighter jets were destroyed. The claims have not been independently verified. The Revolutionary Guard also threatened to target oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, warning crews to evacuate immediately.
The threat followed an earlier warning from Iran’s Armed Forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi, who said Tehran would target US military installations across the region if Iranian oil tankers were attacked.”The US aggressor army has given Iranian oil tankers an evacuation warning to hit them, so I announce that any attack on Iranian oil tankers will result in the targeting of US bases in the region by the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Abdollahi said on state television.
The crews were evacuated safely, and no casualties were reported, according to state media. Iran’s IRIB confirmed the attack near Kharg Island, which handled about 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports before the war, Al Jazeera reported. The IRGC separately said “several” Iranian commercial ships had been hit. The latest US operation follows another strike on Iranian oil carriers on September 5. CENTCOM said it destroyed three Iranian crude oil tankers after the IRGC attempted to attack a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer.
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