US President Donald Trump has said that American forces have knocked out nine Iranian tankers, with more strikes expected. Speaking to reporters near Marine One on an airfield, Trump said, "We've knocked out nine of their ships... you're going to see a lot more... Many of them are gone-zo."
The remarks follow two rounds of US Central Command strikes on Iran's tanker fleet within a week. On September 5, CENTCOM said it hit three Iranian crude oil carriers in the Gulf of Oman, permanently disabling two and destroying one, after Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer that were not hit. On September 8, CENTCOM reported destroying five more tankers, named M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar and M/T Horizon 1 in the Gulf of Oman, along with M/T Riesco and M/T Derya near Iran's Kharg Island export hub, after the IRGC twice targeted a US Navy warship with missiles. Crews were reportedly ordered to abandon ship before each strike.
Iranian state media reported the strikes, and Tehran warned tanker crews near Kuwait and Bahrain to abandon their vessels while claiming retaliatory missile launches toward a US linked base in Jordan, most of which Jordanian forces said they intercepted. Brent crude briefly approached or crossed 100 dollars a barrel on fears of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz. The tanker strikes are part of a conflict that escalated sharply in late February with a major US Israeli operation, and has since shifted from targeting Iranian naval assets to hitting the tanker fleet Washington says finances the IRGC.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly backed the policy, saying every Iranian attack on US ships would cost Tehran a tanker. CENTCOM has described the targeted vessels as part of a multibillion dollar shadow network funding the IRGC and its regional proxies, and has warned it could destroy Iran's limited oil fleet if attacks on US forces continue.
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