Iran said it attacked vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on September 9 after the United States destroyed several Iranian oil tankers overnight, in a sharp escalation in the six-month war.
The tit-for-tat strikes led to a surge in global oil prices, with Brent crude reaching $100 per barrel for the first time since July.
Tehran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan. No casualties or damage were reported.
The US military said it sank five Iranian oil tankers overnight near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, calling it a response to Tehran firing missiles at a US Navy warship over the past two days.
Iran retaliated by firing 20 ballistic missiles toward Jordan, which said it intercepted 18 of them. Jordan said two of the missiles landed in unpopulated areas.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of Iran’s armed forces, claimed that it also attacked two US vessels, eight oil tankers, and 10 “noncompliant vessels” that were trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
A key artery for global energy supplies, the strategic waterway has been effectively closed by Tehran since the start of the war with the United States in February.
Earlier in the war, Iran established a shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz that hugged the Iranian coastline. It said any vessels using a US-backed route along Oman’s coast would be targeted.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is affiliated with the British Navy, said on September 9 that “several” vessels in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf were “subject to disabling fire as part of ongoing military activity in the region.”
Separately, the IRGC warned tanker crews in ports in Kuwait and Bahrain, both US allies, to evacuate, raising fears of further disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
The escalation has already affected shipping: data from Kpler, a commodities and shipping analytics company, showed only six commercial vessels crossed the strait on September 8, well below the recent average.
Also on September 9, the IRGC for the first time added parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to a new "prohibited zone" where vessels will be subject to “sanctions.”
Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the US attack on its oil tankers as “an overt threat to regional and international peace and security,” saying that they "increase the dangers of tensions in the region.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran would “lose tankers” every time it attempted to hit US ships.
"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, and I think you'll see that again today," Rubio told reporters on September 8 on a visit to Colombia.
Rubio's remarks came as Washington intensified its campaign to squeeze Iran economically. The United States announced new sanctions on September 8 targeting Iran's aviation sector and companies accused of helping Tehran obtain aircraft and sensitive technology.
On the same day, Iran's national currency, the rial, fell to a new low against major foreign currencies.
The United States has also imposed a naval blockade on Iranian vessels and ports, disrupting Iran’s oil exports, its key source of revenue.
