US strikes 5 Iranian oil tankers; Tehran targets Jordan base, US warships

US military says it struck the five Iranian tankers after IRGC targeted a US warship twice in two days.

US bombs five Iranian oil tankers after its navy is attacked

The United States has attacked five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island after accusing Tehran of launching ballistic missiles at a US warship twice in two days.

Iran responded to Tuesday’s attacks by firing missiles at US forces stationed at the Al Azraq base in Jordan. It also claimed additional strikes on at least two US vessels and eight tankers in the region, saying the assaults caused “great damage”.

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The exchange of fire comes amid escalating tensions in the Gulf six months into the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with Tehran closing the Strait of Hormuz and Washington enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports.

The hostilities drove oil prices to $99.49 a barrel in early trading on Wednesday.

In a statement late on Tuesday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had sought to target a US warship twice over the past two days, but that the vessel “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks”.

“No American personnel were harmed,” it said.

CENTCOM said it responded by striking and destroying the Iranian oil carriers, M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island.

“American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable,” CENTCOM added.

It later published a video that it said showed the M/T Riesco sinking in the Gulf of Oman.

Iran claims attacks on Jordan

Iran’s IRIB state broadcaster confirmed the attack near Kharg Island, which handled some 90 percent of the country’s oil exports before the war. It reported that the crew was evacuated and said a second tanker was hit near the southern port of Jask in the Gulf of Oman.

The IRGC later said that five tankers were targeted.

It said it retaliated by subjecting Al Azraq base in Jordan to “fierce missile strikes” and claimed that hangars used by US fighter jets were destroyed in the attacks.

The IRGC went on to claim ballistic missile attacks on the US Navy DDG-119 and DDG-53 destroyers, saying the strikes caused “significant damage… to these vessels”.

In a subsequent statement, it said its naval forces targeted “2 American vessels and 8 tankers in the region, causing great damage to them”. It was not clear if the two “American vessels” were the same destroyers mentioned in the earlier statement.

There was no immediate comment from the US on the Iranian claims.

The ship attacks followed a statement by the IRGC that warned of imminent attacks on oil tankers in Bahrain and Kuwait’s borders. The IRGC said all crews must evacuate immediately.

Jordan’s Armed Forces, meanwhile, said the country’s air defences engaged 20 ballistic missiles, “successfully intercepting and destroying 18 of them”. Two missiles “fell in unpopulated areas”, it said in a statement.

The attacks did not cause any casualties, and specialised teams “have begun securing the locations where debris and shrapnel fell”, the military added.

Earlier, the chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Ali Abdollahi, had warned that Tehran would strike US military installations across the region if Iranian tankers were targeted.

The US had previously attacked three Iranian oil tankers on September 5, causing one of them to sink. Tehran said it responded on the same day by attacking three commercial ships and three US-linked ships.

Iran’s top security official, Mohsen Rezaei, later said that Tehran plans to announce a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz, adding that “any ship entering this new zone will be placed on the sanctions list [of Iran]”.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday condemned the latest US attacks on Iranian commercial vessels as a violation of the United Nations charter, describing them as a “war crime”.

It said the “illegal and aggressive actions” were a continuation of the US’s military “aggression” and “economic war” against the country and warned that Washington and its partners bear full responsibility for the consequences.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the strikes, telling reporters during a visit to Colombia that Washington will not back down. “Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” he said,

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington, DC, said the attacks mark an “escalation” in the six-month-old conflict.

“The US is now finding different targets, new targets, in terms of response to Iranian attacks, or what the US administration says are Iranian attacks,” he said.

“Whether these tanker attacks are part of a formulated strategy or whether it is just a question of circumstance, that is not particularly clear at this point,” he said. “However, there is no doubt that these attacks on Iranian tankers would have an economic impact on Iran, and that does fit into what the US administration has declared is its present strategy, which is to bring economic strangulation to Iran.”

Also on Tuesday, the IRGC claimed the capture of an unmanned US submarine at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz “in a complex intelligence and operational action”.

But the US military said the underwater drone had “malfunctioned” as it was surveilling regional waters. It said the “defective drone” had not collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.

美国军方称，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队两天内两次袭击美国军舰后，美军对五艘伊朗油轮发动了袭击。

美国在伊朗海军遭到袭击后，轰炸了五艘伊朗油轮。

美国指责德黑兰两天内两次向美国军舰发射弹道导弹后，在阿曼湾和哈尔克岛附近袭击了五艘伊朗油轮。

伊朗对周二的袭击事件做出回应，向驻扎在约旦阿兹拉克基地的美军发射导弹。伊朗还声称对该地区至少两艘美国舰艇和八艘油轮发动了袭击，并称这些袭击造成了“巨大损失”。

国际原子能机构就伊朗核获取问题发出警告（共3份清单，第1份），西方大国推动联合国将此事提交伊朗。

也门军队对胡塞武装发起反攻，誓言夺回萨那（共3条记录，此为第2条）

列表 3/3：随着燃油价格再次上涨，伊朗政府敦促公民减少燃油消耗

此次交火正值美国和以色列对伊朗发动战争六个月后，海湾地区紧张局势不断升级之际。德黑兰封锁了霍尔木兹海峡，而华盛顿则对伊朗港口实施了海上封锁。

冲突导致周三早盘油价飙升至每桶 99.49 美元。

美国中央司令部（CENTCOM）周二晚间发表声明称，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）在过去两天内两次试图袭击一艘美国军舰，但该军舰“成功躲过了伊朗的袭击”。

声明称：“没有美国人员受伤。”

美国中央司令部表示，其回应是袭击并摧毁了位于阿曼湾的伊朗油轮 M/T Kaviz、M/T Charminar、M/T Horizo​​n 1 和 M/T Riesco，以及位于哈尔格岛附近的 M/T Derya。

美国中央司令部补充说：“在船只被击中并失去行动能力之前，美军指示船员弃船。”

随后，该公司发布了一段视频，称视频显示了 M/T Riesco 号油轮在阿曼湾沉没的画面。

伊朗声称对约旦发动袭击。

伊朗国家广播电视台（IRIB）证实了发生在哈尔格岛附近的袭击事件。战前，哈尔格岛承担了伊朗约90%的石油出口。报道称，船员已被疏散，并表示第二艘油轮在阿曼湾南部贾斯克港附近遭到袭击。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队后来表示，五艘油轮遭到袭击。

它表示，已对约旦的阿兹拉克基地发动“猛烈导弹袭击”进行报复，并声称美国战斗机使用的机库在袭击中被摧毁。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队随后声称对美国海军 DDG-119 和 DDG-53 驱逐舰发动了弹道导弹袭击，并称袭击对这些舰艇造成了“重大损害”。

在随后的声明中，美方称其海军部队袭击了该地区的“2艘美国舰艇和8艘油轮，并对其造成重大损失”。目前尚不清楚这两艘“美国舰艇”是否与此前声明中提到的驱逐舰是同一批。

美国方面尚未对伊朗的指控发表评论。

此次船只袭击事件发生之前，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队曾发表声明，警告称即将对停泊在巴林和科威特边境的油轮发动袭击。革命卫队表示，所有船员必须立即撤离。

与此同时，约旦武装部队表示，该国防空部队拦截了20枚弹道导弹，“成功拦截并摧毁了其中18枚”。声明称，另有两枚导弹“落入无人居住区”。

军方补充说，袭击没有造成任何人员伤亡，专门小组“已经开始清理碎片和弹片落下的地点”。

此前，伊朗武装部队总参谋长阿里·阿卜杜拉希曾警告说，如果伊朗油轮遭到袭击，德黑兰将打击该地区的美国军事设施。

美国此前于9月5日袭击了三艘伊朗油轮，导致其中一艘沉没。德黑兰方面称，当天伊朗对三艘商船和三艘与美国有关联的船只进行了报复性袭击。

伊朗最高安全官员莫森·雷扎伊后来表示，德黑兰计划在霍尔木兹海峡外设立一个限制区，并补充说，“任何进入这个新区域的船只都将被列入伊朗的制裁名单”。

伊朗外交部周二谴责美国最近对伊朗商船的袭击违反了联合国宪章，并将其描述为“战争罪行”。

声明称，这些“非法和侵略性行为”是美国对该国军事“侵略”和“经济战”的延续，并警告说，华盛顿及其伙伴应对其后果承担全部责任。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥为此次袭击辩护，他在访问哥伦比亚期间告诉记者，华盛顿不会退缩。“伊朗不断试图袭击美国海军舰艇，他们每次这样做或试图这样做，都会损失油轮，”他说。

半岛电视台驻华盛顿特区记者迈克·汉纳报道称，这些袭击标志着这场持续六个月的冲突“升级”。

他说：“就应对伊朗袭击，或者美国政府所说的伊朗袭击而言，美国现在正在寻找不同的目标，新的目标。”

他说：“这些油轮袭击究竟是既定战略的一部分，还是仅仅是偶然事件，目前尚不清楚。但毫无疑问，这些针对伊朗油轮的袭击会对伊朗的经济造成影响，而这恰恰符合美国政府宣称的当前战略，即扼杀伊朗的经济。”

周二，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队声称在霍尔木兹海峡入口处“通过一次复杂的情报和作战行动”俘获了一艘美国无人潜艇。

但美国军方表示，这架水下无人机在监视区域水域时发生“故障”。军方称，这架“故障无人机”没有收集敏感数据，也没有携带任何机密声呐或雷达设备。