U.S. Hits IRGC Tankers After Missile Attacks on Navy Ships

U.S. forces struck multiple Iranian oil tankers tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday after further attempted ballistic-missile attacks on a Navy warship, a U.S. official told the Associated Press and Al-Monitor. Iranian state television reported hits near Kharg Island, the country’s main crude-export hub, and near Jask on the Gulf of Oman side of the Strait of Hormuz. Crews were evacuating by lifeboat, Iranian outlets said, with no immediate casualty reports. U.S. Central Command later posted that it destroyed five IRGC crude carriers — the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and the M/T Derya near Kharg — after directing crews to abandon ship. The warship evaded the missiles. No American personnel were harmed. CENTCOM said the tankers belong to a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.

Saturday’s exchange set the ratio. After the IRGC fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer, both of which evaded the attack, CENTCOM permanently disabled the M/T Downy off Kharg and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask and destroyed the unladen M/T Kylo (also called Noxen) in the Gulf of Oman. Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, said: “If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote that if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, “we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers.” The Tuesday action followed the same line after new attempts on a Navy vessel over two days. The IRGC Navy then warned tanker crews near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain — both host U.S. forces — to leave their ships immediately, saying those vessels would be targeted. Armed-forces spokesman Khatam al-Anbiya had already said U.S. bases would be hit if Iranian tankers were struck.

Kharg handled about 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports before the war. Jask sits on the eastern approach to Hormuz, through which a large share of seaborne oil normally moves. Commercial traffic through the strait has stayed thin through more than six months of fighting. The administration has described the tanker hits as a response to IRGC fire on U.S. ships, not as a strike on Kharg’s terminal itself. President Trump has previously threatened energy infrastructure on the island but has not ordered that step. Iranian state media confirmed evacuations and vowed further reprisals. CENTCOM said Iran has no navy or air force left that can defend the shadow fleet. The U.S. official who first confirmed Tuesday’s tanker strikes spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.