VIDEO SHOWS IRANIAN TANKERS ABLAZE
The Americans said they destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight, releasing video of ships ablaze before they sank. The US military’s Central Command called its attacks a response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a US Navy warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the US said.
Washington has announced a new policy of attacking Iranian tankers in retaliation for fire that threatens its warships. Iran says it is imposing a wider off-limits zone around the strait and using new, more capable missiles to attack US ships.
“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,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
The IRGC said on Wednesday it had responded with a ballistic missile attack on a base used by US forces near Al Azraq in eastern Jordan, and had fired on two US vessels and eight oil tankers attempting to cross an area of the Strait of Hormuz that it has declared off limits.
The British maritime security agency UKMTO said it had received reports of several merchant ships struck by disabling fire in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side of the strait. It was not immediately able to confirm casualties or environmental impact.
The agency also said a vessel was reported listing, possibly indicating it had taken on water after being struck by a projectile off Port Rashid, in the United Arab Emirates.
Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, according to a statement carried by state media. A maritime security source reported a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan.
Iran has largely choked off transit through the strait that carried a fifth of global oil before the war.
Washington has responded with a blockade of Iranian ports, and says it has been able to guide many tankers through the strait, although independent monitors say the extent to which oil is escaping has become increasingly difficult to assess. Preliminary data showed just six ships crossing with transponders on over the last 24 hours.
Iran said that its missiles fired at Jordan inflicted heavy damage. Jordan said its air defences had intercepted 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas and no casualties. A US official said Iran’s strikes in Jordan were ineffective and all American troops were accounted for.
Video filmed in Ash-Shajarah, in northern Jordan, and verified by Reuters showed flashes lighting up the night sky. Iran has targeted US bases in the region throughout the war and killed at least two US military personnel in a strike on Jordan in July.
