Dubai, Sept. 5 (SANA) US forces struck three Iranian oil tankers Saturday after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
The targeted vessels included a tanker near Kharg Island, home to Iran’s principal oil export terminal.
“If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost—taking out three of yours,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said in a statement addressed to the IRGC.
CENTCOM said no American personnel were harmed in the Iranian attack.
Iran’s military command threatened to intensify and potentially expand its attacks against US military vessels in the region if strikes on Iranian ships and the naval blockade continued.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency earlier reported that four US missiles had struck a tanker near the Kharg Island anchorage. It cited local sources as saying that no casualties had been reported and the crew was being evacuated.
The exchange marked the latest escalation in a conflict that began after the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. The fighting has disrupted global energy supplies and drawn growing opposition in the United States ahead of congressional elections in November.
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