U.S. Strikes Three Iranian ‘Shadow Network’ Oil Tankers, Military Says
New York Times · LC · trust 46/100
The U.S. military said it retaliated after Iran launched missiles at two warships. The strikes came days after the two sides exchanged some of their most intense fire in weeks.
Listen · 3:41 min Share full article A screenshot of handout video footage released Saturday by the U.S. military, which said it showed American forces striking an Iranian crude oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman. Credit... US Central Command, via Agence France-Presse By Yeganeh Torbati and Leily Nikounazar
The reported exchange of fire came days after the two sides engaged in the most intense fighting in weeks. Iran did not immediately acknowledge any attacks on U.S. ships.
Iran’s state media had said earlier on Saturday that U.S. forces had struck an Iranian oil tanker off the coast of the strategically important Kharg Island , and Iranian news outlets had published images of a ship emitting black plumes of smoke.
Kharg Island, in the Persian Gulf, is Iran’s primary hub for oil exports, which have been squeezed for weeks by a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said in a statement on Saturday that it had struck three Iranian crude oil carriers. It said it had “permanently disabled” one off the coast of Kharg, and another near the southern port city of Jask. U.S. forces “completely destroyed” a tanker with no oil on it in the Gulf of Oman, after directing the crew to abandon ship, the statement said.
The statement said the three ships were part of a “multibillion-dollar shadow network” that funds Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its allied militant groups abroad. It described the strikes as retaliation, after the Guards attempted to hit two U.S. Navy ships with ballistic missiles. It was unclear when those alleged attacks happened.
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