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The US forces have destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday in response to the latest attacks on its warships, US Central Command said. Following the American strikes, Iran launched missiles at US targets in Jordan, according to Iranian state-run media.
US said the military struck the tankers on Tuesday after the Revolutionary Guards targeted a Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. Stating that the US warship “successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and that no American personnel were harmed.”
The statement added that the crews of the five destroyed vessels, Kivik, Charminar, Horizon 1, the Riesco and Derya, were told to abandon ship before the attacks.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s military said its air defence systems intercepted 18 ballistic missiles launched toward its territory, and two others fell in places where no one lives. It said it has no reports of casualties. As a staunch US ally that hosts American forces, Jordan’s military bases have become a target of repeated Iranian strikes.
The latest exchange of strikes has brought the sides back toward open hostilities in a war that has been ongoing for more than six months.
After claiming to strike a US Navy sea drone on Sunday, Iran captured an unmanned US underwater vessel at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz at dawn, Iranian state television reported, and broadcast images of the purported captured drone.
Trump administration on Tuesday added new sanctions on elements of Iran’s aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers, in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.
Both sides are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began.
Additional sources • AP, AFP