Overview
- U.S. Central Command announced it rendered two tankers inoperable and destroyed a third after the IRGC fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy warships.
- CENTCOM named the vessels as M/T Downy, M/T Stark 1 and M/T Kylo (also called Noxen) and said they were part of a clandestine multimillion-dollar network that funds the IRGC and allied groups.
- Iranian state-linked outlets reported a tanker struck near the island of Jarg with the crew evacuating and no casualties, while CNN-confirmed audio captures U.S. aircraft warning the Stark 1 crew to abandon ship before strikes.
- U.S. officials framed the action as direct retaliation intended to raise the economic cost for the IRGC after the missile attacks on U.S. ships.
- The strikes heighten risks to shipping and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman because Jarg handles a large share of Iran’s oil exports and has been a repeated target in the conflict.