The United States said it struck and destroyed three Iranian oil tankers on Saturday in response to attempted missile attacks on naval vessels, in the latest exchange of fire since renewed hostilities flared between the foes.
The new clashes, which began with US raids last week, come with both sides deadlocked in the six-month war as Iran keeps a stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz and Washington presses its counter-blockade of Iranian ports.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it targeted tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), accusing the most powerful arm of the Iranian military of unsuccessfully firing at American warships.
"Following Iran's failed attacks, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask," it said in a statement.
"American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo... in the Gulf of Oman, striking the vessel in multiple critical locations to render it inoperable after the crew was directed to abandon ship."
Video posted by CENTCOM showed large fireballs and billowing flames after projectiles slammed into the ships.
The three vessels were "part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies", it said.
In addition to its renewed military action, Washington is seeking to choke Iran's economy, announcing sanctions on entities with financial links to the Islamic republic in a bid to further isolate it.
After the strikes, CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said: "If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost -- taking out three of yours."
Iranian media had reported several explosions earlier on Saturday near the country's major oil hub of Kharg Island in the Gulf.
On Thursday, Tehran had said that its armed forces attacked US military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, vowing to avenge civilian deaths at a wedding that it blamed on an American strike.
US Vice President JD Vance said the alleged wedding strike, which the Iranian Red Crescent said killed four people in a southern coastal town on Tuesday night, was being investigated but he himself was "sceptical" of the reports.
The Trump administration has been seeking to play down the significance of the six-month conflict, which has proven increasingly unpopular at home as midterm elections near.
Vance went so far as to say that he "wouldn't call it a war", claiming that "right now, there is no active shooting" despite the ongoing exchanges of fire.
US President Donald Trump backed his comments, calling the Iran war "small potatoes" for the US and insisting: "It's not a big thing."
Iran's security chief Mohsen Rezaei warned the US this week that the Islamic republic had adopted a "new strategy" against Washington in the war that "will shatter your foundations".
The US has been trying to step up pressure on Tehran over its blockade of the Hormuz Strait, through which one-fifth of world oil supplies previously flowed.
A fragile ceasefire collapsed in July after attacks on commercial ships in the strategic waterway.
Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly threatened to claim sovereignty over the strait, even posting a map showing it as a "new US territory".
Vance has also insisted that the US would not reopen talks with Iran until it ended attacks on commercial shipping in the Hormuz.
But with fuel prices threatening to cost Trump's Republicans their control of Congress at the ballot box, his administration has begun pushing the message that oil flows through the waterway are now returning to pre-war levels.
"Their control over the Strait of Hormuz is effectively gone," Vance said of Iran on Thursday.
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