The Pentagon claimed the attacks were a retaliation for Iran allegedly firing missiles towards US Navy ships
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday it has struck three Iranian crude oil tankers, claiming the strikes were launched in retaliation for multiple unsuccessful “unprovoked attacks” on an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
The latest escalation follows a major flare-up in the region that unfolded earlier this week, when the US and Iran exchanged intensive strikes. Washington resumed attacking the Islamic Republic on Tuesday, saying the attacks came in response to alleged Iranian attempts to target commercial shipping and US troops in the region. Tehran retaliated with a missile and drone barrage against US facilities in the Gulf.
CENTCOM stated that the three Iranian tankers it targeted are part of “a multibillion-dollar shadow network” that finances Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The targets included two loaded tankers, namely M/T Downy off the Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, which houses Iran’s key oil hub, as well as M/T Kylo off the city of Jask, CENTCOM said. The US forces also “completely destroyed” an empty oil carrier, M/T Kylo, in the Gulf of Oman, the command added.
Footage released by CENTCOM features strikes on the three vessels. The first two tankers were “permanently disabled” by hits to their machine compartments, while M/T Kylo suffered a catastrophic detonation after sustaining multiple hits, footage shows. The US military said the tanker’s crew “was directed to abandon ship” beforehand.
“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,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement.
Tehran threatened to retaliate for the attacks on tankers, with the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters warning the US would face even “more severe” strikes against its military vessels scattered across the region should it continue to “harass” Iranian shipping and maintain a blockade on the country’s ports. Shortly after the announcement, the IRGC said it has attacked three “trespassing oil tankers” and a further three US-linked vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the American strikes.
Previously, Tehran repeatedly warned that it will set the whole oil and gas infrastructure of the US allies in the Gulf States “on fire” should its oil infrastructure, namely the facilities on Kharg, be hit or Washington attempts to capture the island.
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