ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Wednesday that it had targeted two US vessels, eight oil tankers and 10 other ships attempting to cross what it called a “prohibited and unsafe zone” of the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation for US strikes on Iranian oil tankers and further escalating the conflict between the two countries.
In a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA, the IRGC said the attacks were carried out in response to US strikes on five Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf.
“In response to the aggression and malice of the terrorist US military in attacking five Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, the heroic IRGC Navy targeted two US vessels and eight oil tankers in this region, inflicting heavy damage upon them,” the statement said.
The IRGC also said it had targeted 10 ships that attempted to pass through the restricted area of the strait, claiming they were “instigated and backed by the aggressive, terrorist US military.”
The announcement came a day after Iranian military-affiliated media reported that a small Iranian oil tanker had been struck by a US missile off the coast of Kharg Island in southern Iran.
“A small Iranian oil tanker was targeted in a missile attack” by the US “four miles off Kharg Island,” the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency reported, citing local sources. It said there were no casualties and that the tanker’s crew was being evacuated.
The US Central Command said Wednesday its strikes on five Iranian oil tankers came "after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days," adding that "The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Iran would continue to lose tankers if it attacked or attempted to attack US naval vessels.
“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, and I think you'll see that again today,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
The IRGC's Wednesday statement did not provide details on the identities of the vessels or the extent of the reported damage, and there was no immediate confirmation from the US military or the operators of the vessels.
“The Strait of Hormuz remains powerfully and authoritatively under the surveillance and control of the capable and valiant Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” it said.
Iran has repeatedly asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz since the war began in late February, severely disrupting traffic through the strategic waterway, which normally carries around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
Tehran has also warned tankers operating off US-allied Kuwait and Bahrain that they would be targeted, urging their crews to leave the vessels.
The IRGC also claimed Tuesday that it had seized a US unmanned submarine drone in the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said the drone had malfunctioned and was an older model that carried no sensitive data.
