United States says it destroyed five Iranian tankers

The United States and Iran on Tuesday engaged in a new exchange of attacks, another step in the escalation of hostilities in a war that Vice President J. D. Vance refuses to describe as such. Central Command, responsible for U.S. forces in the Middle East, confirmed the destruction of five tankers linked to Iran in the Persian Gulf in response to two attacks carried out by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps against a U.S. warship in the previous two days.

On its account on the social network X, Central Command (CENTCOM) said the tankers struck were part of the network that helps fund the Iranian regime and the groups Tehran’s sponsors in the Middle East together, adding that they were linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). One of them, the Derya, was hit near Kharg Island, the heart of Iran’s oil industry. The other four — the Kaviz, the Charminar, the Horizon 1 and the Riesco — were destroyed in the Gulf of Oman.

“American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable,” the statement said, adding that no U.S. service members were injured in the operation. CENTCOM also recalled that over the weekend U.S. forces destroyed three Iranian tankers after the IRGC tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and a destroyer.

Before Central Command’s statement, the Iranian news agency Tasnim, linked to the IRGC, had reported the attack on one of the tankers near Kharg. State broadcaster IRIB reported another vessel attacked at the port of Jask, slightly south of the Strait of Hormuz, also with no casualties, EFE reported.

In response to those attacks, the Revolutionary Guard warned that Kuwaiti and Bahraini tankers would be “targets of attacks,” and urged the crews of those vessels to leave the ports of both Arab countries immediately; both are U.S. allies and were accused by the IRGC of being complicit in Washington’s actions. Almost immediately, the IRGC said it had launched strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan and against two U.S. destroyers. Central Command has not confirmed those alleged strikes, but Jordan says it shot down 18 of 20 missiles launched by Iran.

“We are already witnessing a pattern of gradual escalation, both in terms of Iran’s now-confirmed repeated attempts to target U.S. warships and the increased quantity and quality of the missiles used to target U.S. bases,” Hamidreza Azizi of Crisis Group, a conflict-prevention organization, wrote on X.

As tensions intensify on the ground, the United States on Tuesday also stepped up economic pressure on Iran, sanctioning 36 entities and individuals tied to the aviation sector as part of what the Donald Trump administration has called Operation Economic Outcast, a package of direct and indirect sanctions and tariffs intended to isolate Tehran.

The sanctions in this case focus on 27 airlines still operating in Iran, on entities and individuals that provide support to the country’s main private carrier, Mahan Air, and on financial and supply channels for the sector.

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