Overview
- U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces on Saturday permanently disabled the M/T Downy off Kharg Island, disabled the M/T Stark 1 near Jask, and completely destroyed the unladen M/T Kylo in the Gulf of Oman in direct response to IRGC ballistic missiles fired at an aircraft carrier and a destroyer.
- CENTCOM said the targeted vessels belong to a "multibillion-dollar shadow network" that funds the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies and quoted Admiral Brad Cooper warning the U.S. will impose higher economic costs for attacks on its ships.
- The military released video and audio that it says show warnings to tanker crews to abandon ship before strikes, and U.S. officials reported no American casualties and that the carrier and destroyer evaded the missile attacks.
- Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes as illegal and the IRGC vowed tougher reprisals, with state and IRGC media claiming later attacks on additional vessels though U.S. officials had not confirmed those claims.
- The action deepens a six-month confrontation that has disrupted flows through the Strait of Hormuz, fuelled global oil-price risk, and runs alongside expanded U.S. sanctions aimed at choking Iran’s oil-financing networks.