United States Destroys Five Iranian Oil Tankers; Iran Fires Missiles at Al Azraq Base in Jordan: who 21 outlets blamed
Tankers hit, Jordan struck
The United States destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island after accusing Tehran of launching ballistic missiles at a U.S. warship twice in two days, and CENTCOM said the warship “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks”.
“successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks”
Iran retaliated by firing missiles at U.S. forces stationed at the Al Azraq base in Jordan, where Jordan’s Armed Forces said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 18 of 20 Iranian missiles and that two missiles “fell in unpopulated areas”.
CENTCOM said it retaliated by striking and destroying the Iranian oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island.
The exchange came as Tehran maintained the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Washington enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and the hostilities briefly drove oil prices to $99.46 earlier on Tuesday.
Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster confirmed the attack near Kharg Island and reported the crew was evacuated, while also reporting that a second tanker was hit near the southern port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman.
Rubio and IRGC threats
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would continue to strike Iranian ships, telling reporters on a visit to Colombia, “Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers”.
Iran’s IRGC threatened to target oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, warning crews there to evacuate immediately, saying, “We warn all the crews of oil tankers in the Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports… to immediately abandon their vessels”.
Jordan’s military said its air defences engaged 20 ballistic missiles, “successfully intercepting and destroying 18 of them”, and that specialized teams “have begun securing the locations where debris and shrapnel fell”.
Iran’s chief of staff of the Armed Forces, Ali Abdollahi, had warned that Tehran would strike US military installations across the region if Iranian tankers were targeted, saying on state television, “any attack on Iranian oil tankers will result in the targeting of US bases in the region”.
The U.S. command said it directed crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable, and it added that “No American personnel were harmed”.
Escalation and economic pressure
CBC reported that the Trump administration 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, while also noting that the latest strikes were part of a dual economic and military approach by U.S. President Donald Trump.
CBC also said the Strait of Hormuz has become the key battleground, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began on Feb. 28, and it linked the latest escalation to energy prices that pushed Brent crude briefly to $99.46.
An Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, Danny Citrinowicz, warned that “There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” adding that “Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difficult to control”.
Reuters said the U.S. strikes on Tuesday were part of a wider intensification that included Iranian-backed Houthis attacking four cities in the south of Saudi Arabia, wounding 73 people and setting oil installations ablaze, as global oil markets priced in the Saudi attacks.