Iran Says It Struck 10 Vessels Near Hormuz After US Attacks on Iranian Tankers

Iran said it attacked 10 ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz after US forces sank five Iranian tankers, as renewed strikes between the two countries pushed oil above $100 a barrel for the first time since July.

The assault marked the most serious escalation in weeks as Tehran and Washington remained locked in a six-month war and struggled to break the impasse. Recent fighting has centered on control of the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran attempting to close the waterway and Washington maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.

The strait is a crucial route for global energy supplies, with up to 20% of the world’s oil and gas passing through it before the war. Oil’s rise above the psychologically significant $100 mark is likely to fuel inflation and increase the cost of consumer goods.

Wall Street stocks declined, while higher fuel and food prices could deepen frustration for the Trump administration as it approaches a midterm election amid an unpopular war and a cost-of-living crisis.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that it had attacked two US vessels and eight oil tankers.

The IRGC described the 10 vessels as “noncompliant,” suggesting that they had attempted to pass through the waterway without its authorization. At least one sailor was reported dead, while another remained missing.

The US denied that its vessels had been hit, with US Central Command saying on social media that all “attempted attacks failed”.

According to Iraqi officials, a drone also struck a tanker in Iraqi waters carrying two million barrels of fuel oil. There were no reported injuries among the crew, and the Iraqi government said no oil had leaked.

Iran said it had also fired missiles at US bases in Jordan. Authorities reported that 18 missiles were intercepted, while two landed in unpopulated areas.

The US previously said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight and released videos showing the ships ablaze. The military said the operation was in response to Iran targeting a US Navy warship twice during the preceding two days.

Iranian state television said the US strikes followed a “complex intelligence and operational action at dawn” to seize a US underwater drone in the strait. The US said the captured craft was an older, defective model that contained no sensitive data.

The retaliatory strikes signaled an intensifying escalation as Washington announced a new policy of targeting Iranian tankers if Iran attacks or attempts to attack its naval vessels.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned reporters that every attempt by Iran to strike a US naval ship would be met by the loss of Iranian tankers.

Iran said it would respond in kind: for every two or three tankers attacked, it would target 20. The IRGC also said it would publish maps of a substantially larger prohibited zone near the strait, extending as far as the Gulf off Chabahar for the first time.

The conflict has taken on an increasingly regional dimension as the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen has exchanged attacks with Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the Houthis launched a wave of attacks on four Saudi cities, causing major fires at oil installations and injuring 73 people. The Houthis said dozens of people had been killed in Saudi airstrikes, a claim not independently confirmed by Riyadh.

Fighting resumed after the Houthis launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government of Yemen in the south last week, seeking to reach the Red Sea.

The group is trying to enforce a Red Sea blockade against Saudi Arabia, announced in July. If successful, it would eliminate another route for the kingdom to export its oil.

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