Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday it had attacked two US vessels, eight oil tankers and 10 other ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The IRGC said the vessels were trying to enter what it described as a “restricted and unsafe area” of the strait.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it had destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers allegedly linked to a covert network worth billions of dollars that finances the IRGC and its regional proxies.
CENTCOM said the strikes were carried out in response to two failed ballistic missile attacks by the IRGC against a US warship over two days. No US personnel were injured.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Washington would continue targeting Iranian oil tankers, saying further attempts to attack US vessels would result in additional strikes.
Iran, meanwhile, claimed it had hit two US destroyers equipped with cruise missiles and the Aegis combat system, alleging that both sustained significant damage.
Iranian state television also reported that US forces attacked a commercial vessel off the coast of Jask and targeted two Iranian oil tankers, whose crews were taken ashore.
The escalation follows an Iranian claim that its forces had seized a US unmanned underwater vehicle near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
CENTCOM denied that the vehicle had been seized, saying it suffered a technical malfunction more than a day earlier while conducting a maritime surveillance mission.
The US company Anduril confirmed that one of its Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicles had been lost, but said the system was designed to operate in hazardous environments where the loss of a vehicle is possible.
The developments come amid rapidly escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran around the Strait of Hormuz, raising risks to maritime traffic and regional oil supplies.
Source: AFP
