Tehran: Following US strikes on Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island and Jask, Iran has launched a massive wave of attacks on US Navy ships in the Gulf and US military bases on Tuesday. According to reports, Iran launched fresh strikes just hours after the US military confirmed that it had permanently disabled a few Iran-linked tankers and destroyed another in the Gulf of Oman as part of its economic pressure campaign.
In the meantime, the Middle East conflict escalated sharply as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen expanded the war into Saudi Arabia, striking 4 southern cities, while Washington destroyed a cluster of Iranian tankers and Tehran hit back at an American base in Jordan.
At least 73 people were wounded and oil facilities were left ablaze in the major escalation of the 6-month-old war. The Houthi attacks landed as global crude markets were already on edge, and within hours the United States Central Command (US CENTCOM) confirmed that it had sunk 5 Iranian crude carriers.
The Central Command released video of the strikes, calling them retaliation after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice in the previous 2 days. The US military officials, however, claimed that no American personnel were hurt in the process.
US Hits Tankers, Iran Strikes Jordan Base
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking during a visit to Colombia, issued a grim warning to Tehran, saying, “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.”
On the other hand, the IRGC, in a statement carried by state media, stated that it had launched a ballistic missile attack on a US base near Al Azraq in Jordan. It claimed that Iranian state television broadcast footage showed the missiles being fired towards Jordan.
The exchange served as another example of a pattern that has defined the war, which is brief pauses followed by sudden flare-ups. Despite months of American strikes that have degraded much of its conventional arsenal and deepened pressure on the struggling economy, Iran retains the ability to fire missiles and drones at neighbours and to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Houthis Expand War Into Saudi Heartland
The Houthis, who control most of Yemen’s populated regions including the capital Sanaa, have compounded pressure on the US allies by intermittently disrupting shipping at the other end of the Arabian Peninsula, near the entrance to the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, the group said that it had carried out a wide-ranging operation deep inside Saudi territory, using drones and missiles to hit a Saudi airbase in Khamis Mushait and assets belonging to the state oil company in Abha, Najran and Jazan.
The satellite imagery from NASA showed a dense plume of black smoke over the Jazan refinery and a column of white smoke rising from an oil distribution hub in Abha. The Saudi administration confirmed fires at both sites, saying that women and children were among the 73 injured. The scale of casualties suggested that the attack was among the largest assaults on the kingdom since the US and Israel began their war against Iran in February.
Energy Supplies And Shadow Fleets At Risk
The strikes on south-western Saudi Arabia carry the possibility of worsening the war’s global economic fallout by hitting Middle East energy supplies beyond the already blockaded Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen for over a decade, after the rebels forced the internationally recognised government from the capital.
Meanwhile, the major Gulf conflict has become a test of endurance between Washington and Tehran, with each side betting that economic pain from competing blockades will force the other to yield. Washington is attempting to keep oil flowing to world markets by shepherding vessels through the Strait of Hormuz while simultaneously choking off Iran’s exports.
The CENTCOM stressed that the tankers destroyed on Tuesday were part of a shadow fleet that finances the IRGC and its regional proxies. Iran has long backed an ‘Axis of Resistance’, which includes Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi Shi’ite militias and the Houthis in Yemen.
Jordan Intercepts Barrage
Although Iran claimed that the Iranian missiles inflicted heavy damage in Jordan, Amman asserted that the air defences intercepted 18 of the 20 missiles, with the remaining 2 landing in unpopulated areas, confirming that there were no casualties. Iran has repeatedly targeted the US allies in the region during the war, striking Jordan several times, including an attack in July that killed 2 US military personnel.
In a separate statement carried by state media, the IRGC stated that it had also attacked 2 US destroyers, with the US military yet to respond to the claim at the time of writing.
According to state media, Tehran further threatened to hit oil tankers docked in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports. A maritime security source reported that a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker was damaged in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan, though it remained unclear who was responsible.
After a relatively calm August, Iran and the US have resumed direct exchanges in recent days, pushing benchmark Brent crude to the highest level since July 23. Futures rose by another dollar a barrel following the attack on Jordan, but remained below $100 a barrel despite the multiple disruptions.