US destroys five Iranian oil tankers after alleged attack on warship

Washington,UPDATED: Sep 9, 2026 04:20 IST

The US military said on Tuesday it had destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers after Iran's Revolutionary Guard allegedly attacked a US warship. US Central Command said the strikes came in response to two Iranian attempts over the past two days to hit the warship with ballistic missiles.

Iranian state television also reported the strikes, saying US forces attacked at least three Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. It said the crews were evacuated. The latest exchange comes as Washington and Tehran move closer to direct fighting during a war that has lasted for more than six months.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the attacks on American naval ships would draw a response. "Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships. And for every time they do that or try to do that, they're going to lose tankers. And I think you'll see that again today," Rubio told reporters in Colombia when asked about the latest attacks in Iran.

An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said one tanker was hit near the coast of Yekbeni, while another explosion was heard in the area, though its source and location were not immediately clear. State TV later said the US military attacked a second tanker in waters off Jask, adding that the crews of both vessels were being evacuated by lifeboat towards the Jask coast. Separately, it reported that another Iranian tanker was attacked in the Kharg Island anchorage area and that its crew was safely evacuated shortly after the strike.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy on Tuesday warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels immediately, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting US forces and assisting in the attacks.

On Saturday, the US military said it had struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles, warning that it would, "if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet". Iran later said it planned to announce a new "exclusion zone" near the Strait of Hormuz for vessels intending to pass through. Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel's Institute for Security Studies, warned about the risks of continued retaliation. "There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem," he said on social media. "Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difficult to control."

The latest strikes are part of what the report described as a dual economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he seeks to end the war with Tehran. On Tuesday, the Trump administration also imposed sanctions on more parts of Iran's aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers. Both the US and Iran are trying to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world's oil passed before the war began. Brent crude briefly rose to USD 99.46 a barrel on Tuesday, while a US blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed Iran's economy and American forces have been helping a limited number of ships move through a route in the strait off Oman.

In sum, the destruction of the tankers marks another sharp escalation in the US-Iran confrontation, with both sides exchanging military and economic pressure around the Strait of Hormuz as concerns grow over wider retaliation and its effect on global oil supplies.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends