The US has struck multiple Iranian oil tankers, according to US CENTCOM, following further attempted missile attacks on a US Navy warship.
The US military added that its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over two days.
CENTCOM said the warship evaded both attacks and that no US personnel were injured. It said crews were ordered to abandon the tankers before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.
The five tankers were identified as the Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco and Derya, with four struck in the Gulf of Oman and one near Iran’s Kharg Island.
Earlier, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that a US missile struck an Iranian oil tanker near Kharg Island in the Gulf.
The tanker was hit approximately four nautical miles from the island on Tuesday evening, with no immediate casualties reported.
Tasnim said the vessel was struck by a projectile fired by US forces in the anchorage area of Kharg Island.
Local sources said the tanker's crew was being evacuated.
Another explosion was reported aboard an oil tanker off the Yekbani coast near Iran’s Jask port, according to state broadcaster IRIB.
Warning to tanker crews
The developments come amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US over the Strait of Hormuz, despite the signing of a memorandum in June that envisioned a deal to reopen the strategic waterway as a prelude to a wider peace deal
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy has meanwhile warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers.
The warning, carried by Iranian state television, said the US military had targeted several Iranian oil tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting US forces and assisting in the attacks.
The Revolutionary Guard warned tanker crews to abandon their vessels whether they were at anchor or docked, saying they “will be targeted.”
World oil prices climbed on Tuesday, once again closing in on $100 a barrel, and stock markets mostly retreated after a flare-up in the Middle East war.
