U.S. strikes 3 Iranian oil tankers after Iran targets Navy warships, military says

U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers Saturday after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy ships, the U.S. military said.

A U.S. aircraft carrier and guided missile destroyer evaded multiple attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. No American personnel were harmed.

CENTCOM said U.S. forces retaliated by permanently disabling two crude oil carriers, the M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask. Forces also destroyed a third vessel, the M/T Kylo near the Gulf of Oman.

The Kylo was not carrying oil at the time and its crew was directed to abandon the vessel before American forces struck it in multiple locations, CENTCOM said.

“If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of CENTCOM, said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the U.S. strikes, calling them “illegal and aggressive” and accusing Washington of waging a naval blockade and economic war against Iran.

In a statement carried by Iranian state media IRIB, the ministry said the attacks violated the United Nations Charter and constituted a war crime and a threat to international peace and commercial shipping.

Kharg Island, a tiny but strategic island 15 miles off the coast of Iran in the Persian Gulf, plays a central role in the country’s oil industry. There are also military capabilities there, including air defenses and mines buried underground.

The site has repeatedly emerged as a flashpoint during the conflict. U.S. forces struck military targets on the island in March but deliberately spared its oil infrastructure. President Donald Trump said at the time that the U.S. could target the energy facilities if Iran continued interfering with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The island is critical to Iran’s finances. Petras Katinas, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, previously told NBC News that Kharg is the “backbone” of Iran’s oil trade infrastructure and the primary gateway for the country’s oil reserves.

Iranian media reported earlier Saturday that a tanker near Kharg had been hit by U.S. missiles and that its crew was being evacuated. No causalities were reported, according to Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency.