Overview
- U.S. Central Command said American forces struck and destroyed three Iranian crude oil tankers after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships, and CENTCOM confirmed no American personnel were harmed.
- Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf declared that the era of limited, proportionate responses is over and warned that U.S. energy assets and oil companies in regional waters could be targeted in retaliation.
- Brig. Gen. Mohammad Sadeghian publicly claimed Iran’s air defenses engaged as many as 370 U.S. aircraft and drones and said several were shot down, but those assertions have not been independently verified in the reporting.
- Senior Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran will create a new restricted zone and shipping corridor in the Gulf and may add ships entering that zone to an Iranian sanctions list, a move that could further disrupt transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
- Commercial effects are already visible: reduced ship traffic through the Strait contributed to a jump in Brent crude futures toward $98 a barrel, showing how military exchanges and threats are raising costs for regional shipping and energy markets.