The US military said it struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday after Iran fired missiles at two US Navy warships in the area.
An aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer have evaded several attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a social media post on Saturday.
In response, US forces struck three crude oil tankers that US Central Command said were part of a network used to fund the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its regional proxies.
No American personnel were injured.
According to US Central Command, two tankers were disabled, including the M/T Downy off the coast of Iran’s Kharg Island and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask.
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The US military said a third tanker, M/T Kylo, also known as Noxen, was destroyed in the Gulf of Oman after its crew was instructed to abandon ship. The tanker was not carrying oil at that time.
“If you fire on two of our ships, we will impose a higher economic cost — destroying three of your ships,” US Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper said in a statement.
He added: “We will not hesitate to defend American forces and, if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) responded on Saturday on social media that it had targeted three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and three ships linked to the United States in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian tankers.
These allegations have not been independently verified.
Iran earlier accused the United States of attacking an Iranian tanker near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.
The strikes come about a week after the United States and Iran resumed their attacks after about a month of relative calm.
The conflict began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran have stopped since then.
– With files from The Canadian Press
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