US Military Targets Iranian Oil Tankers Amid Rising Tensions

US Strikes Iranian Oil Fleet

The US military announced on Saturday that it had targeted three Iranian oil tankers following missile attacks on Navy vessels. The military emphasized its readiness to dismantle Iran's limited oil fleet if deemed necessary.

According to the military's report, a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer successfully avoided several unprovoked attacks from Iranian forces while conducting patrols in the area, with no American personnel sustaining injuries. The statement indicated that two Iranian oil tankers were rendered 'permanently disabled,' while a third, which was empty, was destroyed.

The US further claimed that these tankers were part of a covert network that finances Iran's influential Revolutionary Guard and its regional armed groups.

In a prior incident, Iran accused the US of assaulting an Iranian tanker close to Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf.

The US confirmed that one tanker was hit off Kharg Island, another near Jask, and the empty tanker was struck in the Gulf of Oman. The military also released what it described as video evidence of the attacks.

These strikes occurred nearly a week after hostilities resumed between the US and Iran, following a brief period of relative calm in their ongoing conflict that reignited after US and Israeli strikes on February 28. Both nations have aimed to inflict military and economic damage on each other, while diplomatic efforts have stalled.