DUBAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) – U.S. and Iranian forces fired at vessels in waters around Iran on Saturday, including three Iranian oil carriers struck by the Americans and three tankers that Iran said it targeted while on unauthorized \u200croutes in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
U.S. Central Command said it struck the three Iranian vessels, including one off the \u200ccoast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s oil export hub, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships.<\/p>\n
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If \u200byou shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost \u2014 taking out three of yours,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the U.S. military in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The IRGC responded by threatening intensified strikes against U.S. military vessels in the region, and said later it targeted the three tankers as well as three U.S.-linked vessels in other areas.<\/p>\n
“Do not be deceived \u200cby the ‘terrorist’ U.S. military and refrain from any suspicious \u2060movement aimed at passing through unauthorized waterways,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement carried on Iranian state TV. “Otherwise, you will be targeted.”<\/p>\n
Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, had reported that four U.S. missiles hit \u2060a tanker in the area of Kharg’s anchorage. Tasnim quoted local sources as saying there were no casualties and the tanker’s crew was being evacuated.<\/p>\n
No American personnel were harmed, Central Command said.<\/p>\n
The exchange of attacks followed an escalation in the past week that threatens to deepen a conflict \u200bthat \u200bhas continued since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran in \u200bFebruary, disrupting global energy supplies and drawing opposition from \u200ca majority of Americans before congressional elections in November.<\/p>\n
TRUMP’S THREATS OVER KHARG ISLAND<\/p>\n
While U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to pivot toward an economic clampdown on Iran by widening sanctions, the president himself has kept open the possibility of military action.<\/p>\n
On August 31, Trump issued a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being “blown to smithereens.” Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.<\/p>\n
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude via \u200cKharg Island before the war. Flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade \u200bof Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.<\/p>\n
Trump has spoken of an attack on \u200bKharg before. He said on June 11 that he \u200bwanted to take over the island, but then said a U.S. military operation there was off the table, \u200cdays before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement \u200baimed at ending the war on \u200bJune 17.<\/p>\n
A U.S. attack on Kharg would further pressure Iran’s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the U.S. naval blockade.<\/p>\n
The U.S. imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, \u200ban important waterway that carried one-fifth of the \u200cworld’s oil supply before the war.<\/p>\n
Brent crude futures closed at their highest level since July 24 on Friday, \u200bat $96.28 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East drive global supply concerns.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Writing by Patricia \u200bZengerle; Editing by Sharon Singleton, Timothy Heritage, Sergio Non, Rod Nickel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) – U.S. and Iranian forces fired at vessels in waters around Iran on Saturday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[1792,34,33142,361,8515,2601,1527,683,2174],"class_list":["post-279722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-americans","tag-iran","tag-irans-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","tag-iranian","tag-kharg","tag-kharg-island","tag-u-s-navy","tag-u-s","tag-u-s-central-command"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117221205509957839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279722","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=279722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}