{"id":279257,"date":"2026-09-05T15:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/279257\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T15:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T15:38:09","slug":"us-strikes-three-iranian-oil-tankers-after-tehran-attacks-naval-ships-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/279257\/","title":{"rendered":"US strikes three Iranian oil tankers after Tehran attacks naval ships \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US<\/a> forces struck three Iranian<\/a> oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command \u200bsaid, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran\u2019s key oil<\/a> export hub.<\/p>\n

The strikes were carried out after Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two US navy ships, Central Command said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot \u200bat two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost \u2013 taking out three of yours,\u201d said Brad Cooper, head of US \u2060Central Command.<\/p>\n

Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, reported earlier that four US missiles hit a tanker \u200cin \u200cthe \u200barea of Kharg\u2019s anchorage. Tasnim quoted local sources as saying there were no casualties and the tanker\u2019s crew was being evacuated.<\/p>\n

No American personnel were harmed, Central Command said.<\/p>\n

There \u2060was no immediate official announcement by Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n

The \u200bexchange of attacks follows an escalation in the past week \u200bthat threatens to deepen a conflict that has dragged on since the US launched strikes on Iran in \u200cFebruary, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from \u200ba majority of Americans before congressional elections<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

US president Donald Trump<\/a> said \u2060on August 31st in a one-line social media \u2060post accompanied by an \u200bAI-generated video that Kharg Island was being \u201cblown to smithereens\u201d. Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.<\/p>\n

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90 per cent of its crude via Kharg Island before the war, but flows have been disrupted since a US blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.<\/p>\n

Trump said on June 11th that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, but then said a threatened US military operation there was off the table \u200cfor now, days before Tehran \u2060and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17th.<\/p>\n

A US attack on Kharg would further pressure Iran\u2019s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling \u200cfrom the US naval blockade.<\/p>\n

The US imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, an important waterway that \u200bcarried one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply before the war.<\/p>\n

Brent crude futures \u200bclosed at their highest level since July 24th on Friday, at $96.28 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East drive global supply concerns. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday, US Central Command \u200bsaid, including one off the coast…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[38,34,213,101,69,51,76094],"class_list":["post-279257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-oil","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-tehran","tag-united-states","tag-us-midterms"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117219183965925448","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}