Satellite view of Kharg Island, located in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran.
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U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers Saturday after U.S. Central Command said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two Navy warships in the region.
CENTCOM said it permanently disabled one crude oil carrier off the coast of Kharg Island and one near Jask. Another oil tanker was attacked in the Gulf of Oman.
The strikes come after CENTCOM said the Revolutionary Guard launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships patrolling the region. According to CENTCOM, a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple attacks, and no American personnel were harmed.
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said in a statement Saturday. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth later wrote in a post on X: “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers, All they have to do is stop shooting at @USNavy.”
There was no immediate response from Iranian authorities to Saturday’s U.S. attacks.
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude via Kharg Island before the war. Flows have been disrupted by a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports, which began in mid-April.
The conflict between Iran and the U.S. has effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world’s oil supply before the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened in June to seize Kharg Island as the U.S. continued military strikes against Iran. Most recently, on Aug. 31, he posted an artificial intelligence-generated video of Kharg Island being blown up.
The strike on the oil tankers comes a day after the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a small Turkish investment bank and two of its subsidiaries, which the U.S. accuses of facilitating funds for an arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The Treasury alleges that Golden Global Yatirim Bankasi Anonim Sirketi and its subsidiaries Golden Global Varlik Kiralama Anonim Sirketi and Golden Global Portfoy Yonetimi Anonim Sirketi were “established for the purpose of enabling Iran’s rahbar network to transfer oil revenues from China to Turkey, where it could then be converted to cash and gold by rahbar money exchangers.”
Golden Global Bank is the second major financial institution targeted under “Operation Economic Outcast,” an effort by the Trump administration to isolate Tehran through non-military actions by sanctioning its business partners.