{"id":279657,"date":"2026-09-05T22:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/279657\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T22:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T22:42:08","slug":"us-fighters-and-drones-strike-3-iranian-oil-tankers-in-retaliation-for-ship-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/279657\/","title":{"rendered":"US Fighters and Drones Strike 3 Iranian Oil Tankers in Retaliation for Ship Attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org<\/p>\n

The U.S. military struck three Iranian oil tankers on Sept. 5, as the Trump administration and Iran battle for control over the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A mix of Air Force and Navy aircraft carried out the attacks, including both fighters<\/a> and drones, U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine.\u00a0The attack followed an unsuccessful Iranian ballistic missile attack on a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer.\u00a0Neither U.S. ship was hit.\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cLet the message to the IRGC be clear,\u201d said Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, referring to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. \u201cIf you shoot at our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost\u2014take out three of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cooper\u2019s statement continued: \u201cWe will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran\u2019s limited and exposed oil fleet.\u201d <\/p>\n

The three Iranian tankers included M\/T Downy, hit near Kharg Island, and the M\/T Stark 1, which was struck near Jask, a coastal city in Iran. The M\/T Downy and M\/T Stark 1 were \u201cpermanently disabled,\u201d according to CENTCOM. The third Iranian oil carrier was hit in the Gulf of Oman. Struck in multiple locations, that tanker was rendered inoperable and \u201ccompletely destroyed,\u201d according to CENTCOM. The Iranian crew was warned that it should abandon ship before the strike, the command said. CENTCOM later released a video of the attacks on the ships.<\/p>\n

The U.S. attacks on the Iranian oil tankers are part of a new Trump administration policy to deter Iranian attacks on U.S. military forces and commercial vessels. Previously, the U.S. had focused its attacks on Iranian military targets, such as radars and surface-to-air missiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign ministry called the attacks on oil tankers a \u201cwar crime\u201d intended to further America\u2019s \u201ceconomic war\u201d on the Iranian homeland.\u00a0Cooper said the attacks on Iran\u2019s oil carriers are justified because they generate revenue for the IRGC.\u00a0\t\t<\/p>\n

The IRGC said in its own statement<\/a> that it would follow suit and that it targeted \u201cthree oil tankers traveling through an unauthorized route in the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three vessels affiliated with the United States in other areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. is seeking to use economic sanctions and a blockade to pressure Iran to give up its attempt to control international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and to agree to limits on its nuclear program.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command forces striking three Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 5, 2026. U.S. Central Command video,<\/p>\n

Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[17078,141,2654,34,212,2174],"class_list":["post-279657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-adm-brad-cooper","tag-centcom","tag-epic-fury","tag-iran","tag-operation-epic-fury","tag-u-s-central-command"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117220851233118964","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279657","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=279657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}