U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged fire with vessels in waters around Iran on Saturday, September 6, including three Iranian oil carriers struck by the United States and three tankers that Iran said it targeted for using unauthorised routes in the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. Central Command said it struck the three Iranian vessels, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, near Iran’s main oil export hub, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships.
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost taking out three of yours,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the U.S. military in the Middle East.
The IRGC responded by threatening intensified strikes against U.S. military vessels in the region and later said it had targeted the three tankers as well as three U.S.-linked vessels in other areas.
“Do not be deceived by the ‘terrorist’ U.S. military and refrain from any suspicious movement aimed at passing through unauthorised waterways,” the IRGC Navy said in a statement carried on Iranian state television. “Otherwise, you will be targeted.”
Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, reported that four U.S. missiles hit a tanker in the area of Kharg’s anchorage. It quoted local sources as saying there were no casualties and that the tanker’s crew was being evacuated.
No American personnel were harmed, U.S. Central Command said.
The exchange of attacks follows an escalation over the past week that threatens to deepen a conflict that has continued since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February.
The conflict has disrupted global energy supplies and drawn opposition from a majority of Americans ahead of congressional elections in November.
While U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to pivot towards an economic clampdown on Iran by widening sanctions, the president himself has kept open the possibility of military action.
On August 31, Trump issued a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being “blown to smithereens”. Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg is attacked.
Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and exported 90% of its crude through Kharg Island before the war. Those flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.
Trump has previously spoken of attacking Kharg. On June 11, he said he wanted to take over the island, but later said a U.S. military operation there was off the table, days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending the war on June 17.
A U.S. attack on Kharg could put further pressure on Iran’s oil industry and wider economy, which is already reeling from the U.S. naval blockade.
The United States imposed its blockade on Iranian ports after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.
Brent crude futures closed at their highest level since July 24 on Friday, at $96.28 a barrel, as tensions in the Middle East heightened concerns over global oil supplies.
