War

U.S. forces have destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. Navy warship twice during the past two days, according to the U.S. military. The warship evaded both attacks and continued its patrol without injuries to U.S. personnel.CENTCOM said Tuesday that it struck the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, as well as the M/T Derya near Iran’s Kharg Island. U.S. forces directed the crews to abandon the vessels before the strikes, which rendered the tankers inoperable.The command said Iran uses the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.The announcement came amid one of Iran’s largest missile attacks in months, which appeared to target U.S. assets in Jordan. It was not immediately clear whether any missiles struck their targets or if all were intercepted.
Friday’s strikes follow the destruction of three other Iranian crude-oil carriers on Sept. 5, after the IRGC attempted to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer. CENTCOM said all Iranian attempts to attack U.S. Navy warships have failed.