US military says it destroyed 5 more Iranian oil tankers after missile
attacks on Navy warship
[September 09, 2026]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said it destroyed five Iranian oil
tankers on Tuesday in response to the latest attacks on its warships and
Tehran hit back at American targets in Jordan, the latest burst of
back-and-forth strikes that have lurched the sides back toward open
hostilities in a more than 6-month-old war.
Following the American strikes, Iran launched missiles toward U.S.
targets in Jordan, Iranian state-run media said. Jordan’s military said
its air defense systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles launched
toward its territory and two others fell in places where no one lives.
It said it has no reports of casualties. Jordan is a staunch U.S. ally
that hosts American forces, making the kingdom’s military bases a target
of repeat Iranian strikes. U.S. Central Command said it had no
information to offer.
The latest strikes are part of a dual economic and military approach by
President Donald Trump as he struggles to bring an end to the war. The
Trump administration on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on additional
elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen
commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service
providers, in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading
partners.
Both the U.S. and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of
Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war
began. Rising energy prices are posing political problems for Trump and
his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. A barrel
of international standard Brent crude briefly climbed as high as $99.46
on Tuesday.
The U.S. forces also destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday
after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tried to attack a U.S. aircraft
carrier and destroyer with ballistic missiles, warning that it would,
“if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.” Iran later
said it planned to announce a new “exclusion zone” near the Strait of
Hormuz aimed at vessels intending to transit.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will not allow Iran’s
attacks to go unanswered.
“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. 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 Tuesday when asked
about the latest attacks in Iran while on a trip to Colombia.
Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran expert at Israel’s Institute for National
Security Studies, warned that such back-and-forth strikes can only risk
more retaliation and further impact to the global economy.
“There is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,” he said
on social media. “Every attempt to impose one only brings Washington and
Tehran closer to an escalation that may become increasingly difficult to
control.”
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A motorboat travels past commercial vessels anchored amid haze in
the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026.
(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
U.S. Central Command said the military struck the tankers on Tuesday
after the Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with
ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. “The U.S. warship
successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to
patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” it said
in a statement.
It said the Iranian tankers destroyed on Tuesday were the Kivik,
Charminar, Horizon 1 and the Riesco in the Gulf of Oman. The U.S.
military also destroyed the vessel Derya, which was located near
Kharg Island in the Strait of Hormuz. The statement said the crews
of the five vessels were told to abandoned ship before the attacks.
Iranian state television also reported the U.S. strikes, saying U.S.
forces attacked Iranian oil tankers near the southern port of Jask
and near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf. It said the crews were
evacuated.
An Iranian state TV reporter in Jask said an Iranian tanker was
struck near the coast of Yekbeni. State TV later reported that the
U.S. military attacked a second tanker near waters off Jask.
Separately, state television reported that another Iranian tanker
was attacked in the Kharg Island anchorage area.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy on Tuesday had warned crews of oil
tankers near ports in Kuwait and Bahrain to immediately leave their
vessels, saying the ships could be targeted in retaliation for U.S.
attacks on Iranian tankers. It accused Kuwait and Bahrain of hosting
U.S. forces and assisting in the attacks.
A U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has squeezed the country’s economy
by limiting its oil exports, while the American military has been
helping a limited number of ships transit on a route through the
Strait of Hormuz off Oman. Tehran wants ships to follow a route that
it chooses through the strait, which was considered an international
waterway before the war.
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