WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. on Tuesday struck multiple Iranian tankers in response to more attempted missile attacks on a Navy warship, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
It marks the latest tit-for-tat strikes as Washington and Tehran lurch back toward fighting during more than six months of war.
READ MORE: Iran says it plans to announce a new ‘exclusion zone’ near the Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy has warned crews of oil tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iranian tankers.
The warning, carried by Iranian state television, said the U.S. military had targeted several Iranian oil tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting U.S. forces and assisting in the attacks.
The Revolutionaly Guard warned tanker crews to abandon their vessels whether they were at anchor or docked, saying they “will be targeted.”
On Saturday, the U.S. military said it had struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with ballistic missiles, warning that it would, “if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.” Iran later said it planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit.
The latest strikes are part of a dual economic and military approach by President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to a more than six-month-old war with Tehran.
The Trump administration on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on additional elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.
Both the U.S. and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began. Rising energy prices are posing political problems for Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. A barrel of international standard Brent crude briefly climbed as high as $99.46 on Tuesday.
A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed the country’s economy by limiting its oil exports, while the American military has been helping a limited number of ships transit on a route through the Strait of Hormuz off Oman. Tehran wants ships to follow a route that it chooses through the strait, which was considered an international waterway before the war.
