US strikes 3 Iranian oil tankers after attacks on Navy warships; Tehran accuses Washington

The US military said on Saturday that it had struck and disabled three Iranian oil tankers linked to what it described as a shadow network supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), following missile attacks allegedly directed at US Navy warships.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said an American aircraft carrier and a destroyer had evaded multiple “unprovoked” attacks by Iranian forces, with no US personnel injured in the incidents.

According to CENTCOM, two Iranian crude oil carriers were permanently disabled near Iran’s coast. The command said the vessels, M/T Downy and M/T Stark 1, were targeted off Kharg Island and near Jask, respectively.

“Following Iran’s failed attacks, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask,” the command said in a post on X.

The US military said a third vessel, M/T Kylo, was targeted in the Gulf of Oman. Unlike the other two tankers, the vessel was unladen at the time of the operation.

CENTCOM said the crew of the third tanker was directed to abandon the vessel before US forces struck it at multiple critical points. The attacks were intended to render the ship inoperable, according to the US military.

“American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo... in the Gulf of Oman,” CENTCOM said, adding that the vessel was hit in several critical locations after its crew was ordered to leave.

The US military said the tankers were part of a shadow network that helps finance Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. The allegation places the strikes within the broader US effort to target financial and logistical networks associated with the IRGC.

Iran, however, has accused the United States of attacking an Iranian tanker near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. The competing accounts underline the growing tensions between Washington and Tehran and the risks to shipping in the region.

The latest strikes come amid heightened military tensions involving the two countries, with commercial oil vessels becoming part of the confrontation. The US military’s account links the tanker strikes directly to attacks on American naval assets, while Iran has described the US action as an attack on an Iranian tanker.

The US statement did not report any American casualties. It said the aircraft carrier and destroyer successfully evaded the Iranian attacks.

The incidents could further increase concerns over the security of oil shipments and commercial vessels operating around the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, two strategically important waterways for energy transportation.

With both sides offering sharply different accounts of the incidents, the tanker strikes add another potentially significant flashpoint to the confrontation between the US and Iran.