{"id":8521,"date":"2026-09-05T22:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8521"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:06:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:06:16","slug":"us-strikes-3-iranian-oil-tankers-after-saying-warships-were-targeted-with-ballistic-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8521","title":{"rendered":"US strikes 3 Iranian oil tankers after saying warships were targeted with ballistic missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Amir Vahdat, Toqa Ezzidin and Cara Anna | Associated Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

CAIRO \u2014 U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles, the American military said Saturday, warning that it would \u201cif necessary, destroy Iran\u2019s limited and exposed oil fleet.\u201d Experts called it a dangerous escalation after Iran\u2019s previous attacks at sea targeted commercial shipping.<\/p>\n

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The strikes \u2014 a day after U.S. President Donald Trump sought to minimize the conflict as \u201csmall potatoes\u201d \u2014 keep up a new tilt back toward fighting after six months of on-again, off-again war that began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on the country on Feb. 28. Both sides have sought to inflict both military and economic pain, and negotiations have collapsed.<\/p>\n

The military\u2019s statement said an American aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded \u201cmultiple unprovoked Iranian attacks\u201d while patrolling in the region and no U.S. personnel were hurt. It wasn\u2019t clear when the Iranian missiles were fired. The statement said that two Iranian oil carriers were \u201cpermanently disabled\u201d and the third, unladen one, was destroyed.<\/p>\n

The U.S. statement called the tankers part of a shadow network helping to fund Iran\u2019s powerful Revolutionary Guard and its armed proxies in the region.<\/p>\n

Iran says it struck back in response<\/h4>\n

Iran\u2019s state broadcaster said later Saturday that Iran targeted three oil tankers and three American vessels in response to the U.S. strikes. This couldn\u2019t be immediately confirmed.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson with Iran\u2019s joint military command warned that strikes against U.S. military ships would be more severe if the U.S. continues to interfere with Iranian shipping, the state broadcaster reported.<\/p>\n

That Iran targeted a U.S. aircraft carrier with a ballistic missile \u201cindicates that Tehran is becoming increasingly willing to accept risks it previously sought to avoid, including directly threatening some of the most important U.S. military assets in the region,\u201d Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, said on X.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Earlier, Iranian state television had said that four U.S. missiles struck a tanker about 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Kharg Island, home to a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil. Kharg Island has been repeatedly targeted during the war, including in U.S. strikes on military sites there in March.<\/p>\n

The U.S. said that one tanker was struck off Kharg Island and another was struck near Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz. The unladen tanker was hit in the Gulf of Oman, and the U.S. said its crew had been \u201cdirected to abandon ship.\u201d The statement shared what it called video footage of the strikes.<\/p>\n

After the U.S. statement, Iran\u2019s state broadcaster reported the attack of the two other tankers, saying their crews had evacuated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran\u2019s limited and exposed oil fleet,\u201d said Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry called the attacks a war crime, and said that the consequences for continued U.S. aggression, including \u201ceconomic warfare,\u201d would rest with Washington and its allies.<\/p>\n

Between the war and the disabling of ships during the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, it\u2019s not immediately clear how many Iranian oil tankers have been targeted. On May 8, the U.S. military said that it fired \u201cprecision munitions\u201d into the smokestacks of two Iranian oil tankers, both unladen.<\/p>\n

Strikes come a week after fighting resumed<\/h4>\n

The latest strikes came nearly a week after the U.S. and Iran resumed attacks following a month of relative calm, with the Strait of Hormuz, and Iranian communities along it again, being targeted. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S. bombardment of southern Iran. One strike hit a wedding.<\/p>\n

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Masoumeh Zarei, 13, was wounded in the attack. She spoke to The Associated Press at a hospital while being treated for injuries to her abdomen.<\/p>\n

She said the wedding celebration had already begun when she set out to join it. She never made it there. She was knocked unconscious when a telecommunications tower was struck. Her next memory was of waking up in a hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party had just started, and we wanted to go there,\u201d Zarei said, her voice hoarse. \u201cI had made my nails really pretty for the party, but everything changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her friend, 14-year-old Kiana Karimi, also was wounded and in intensive care. She told the AP that she heard five explosions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first three explosions at the telecommunications tower threw us to the ground,\u201d Karimi said. \u201cI quickly got up to pick my brothers up off the ground. Then there were two more explosions, and after that I don\u2019t remember anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. had tried to turn to economic pressure<\/h4>\n

The Trump administration appears to have adopted a dual-prong approach to the conflict, responding militarily to attacks on the strait while going after foreign financial institutions that handle Iran\u2019s money. U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday said that there was no prospect for renewed talks as long as Iran goes after ships, while noting that major military operations ended in July.<\/p>\n

But Tehran\u2019s hard-line new senior leaders have signaled the willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions. The elected government of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, however, has said that it favors a negotiated end to the war.<\/p>\n

Iran has found ways over the years to circumvent sanctions \u2014 and now the U.S. blockade \u2014 and get its oil to buyers to help ease growing economic pressures. That relies in part on a shadow fleet transporting its oil.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the issue that helped lead to the war \u2014 Iran\u2019s nuclear program \u2014 was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the U.S. and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June. Now diplomats say the U.S., Britain, France and Germany seek to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for failure to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations.<\/p>\n

Instead, Tehran\u2019s new leverage focuses on the strait that is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began.<\/p>\n

The U.S. military has been helping to guide ships through the strait as Tehran asserts control and targets some vessels, but overall traffic remains low.<\/p>\n

Amir Vahdat reported from Minab, Iran. Cara Anna reported from Jerusalem. Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.<\/em><\/p>\n

___<\/em><\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show that Iran said that it struck back on Saturday, not Sunday.<\/em><\/p>\n

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