U.S. Central Command confirmed Tuesday that American forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the latest round of retaliatory strikes in the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman – the most significant single naval engagement of the ongoing conflict with Tehran.
CENTCOM confirmed the four tankers destroyed in the Gulf of Oman were M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco. A fifth tanker, M/T Derya, was destroyed in the Persian Gulf near Kharg Island — Iran’s main oil export terminal, operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The strikes were launched in retaliation for a series of failed Iranian missile attacks against U.S. guided-missile destroyers DDG-119 and DDG-53 over the preceding 48 hours. U.S. Navy air defense systems intercepted all incoming missiles. Iran’s state-run media claimed IRGC forces also struck eight oil tankers in the strait, though those reports were not independently confirmed.
A separate Iranian missile salvo targeting U.S. military positions in Jordan was also repelled Tuesday. U.S. officials described the attack as “ineffective,” with no missiles reaching their targets.
Brent crude continued rising on news of the strike, as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical energy chokepoint — remained severely disrupted. The five tankers destroyed represent the single largest loss of Iranian commercial shipping assets since the conflict began in 2026. CENTCOM said the strikes were “designed to impose costs on Iran for continued attacks on international shipping and U.S. forces.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the strikes as “aggression on Iranian sovereign assets” and vowed a “proportionate and decisive” response.
The Pentagon has not altered rules of engagement, with officials maintaining that the current posture is calibrated to impose costs on IRGC assets without expanding the conflict beyond maritime and energy-related targets.
