US military destroys 5 Iranian oil tankers

The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian oil tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Tuesday in response to attempted Iranian missile launches at U.S. Navy warships, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) announced.

The U.S. forces disabled IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, along with M/T Derya near Kharg Island, an island located in the northern Persian Gulf.

The U.S. military directed the crews on vessels to abandon ships before firing at the tankers, according to Centcom. No U.S. personnel were harmed in the attacks.

“Iran has used the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies,” Centcom said in a statement. “Iran has no means by which to defend these vessels.”

U.S. strikes on Tuesday came a day after Iran launched attacks against Navy ships that Centcom has not publicly acknowledged, The Wall Street Journal reported. No ships were hit in the attack.

Fox News was the first outlet to report on the Tuesday U.S. attacks.

On Saturday, the U.S. military “ permanently disabled ” three IRGC crude oil tankers near Kharg Island and in the Gulf of Oman, retaliating for Iran’s strikes against U.S. Navy vessels.

A day later, the IRGC attacked a remotely operated U.S. military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state media.

The flare-ups in the Middle East come as Brent crude, an international standard for oil, was trading at $97 per barrel Tuesday.

Iran will announce a “restricted zone” near the Strait of Hormuz, and all ships that come into the zone and do not cooperate with Iran will be placed on a sanctions list, Press TV, an Iranian state media outlet, reported on Sunday .

Meanwhile, the U.S. military has continued to enforce the naval blockade in the Arabian Sea. U.S. forces have redirected 94 commercial ships, disabled three and boarded another to ensure compliance since mid-July, Centcom said in an update Monday.