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Iran hits back after US strikes oil tankers
Iran said on Sunday that it attacked a US naval drone trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, hours after targeting ships in retaliation for American strikes on three oil tankers.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said its navy targeted three US-linked vessels and three trespassing oil tankers.
“This morning, the terrorist and aggressor US military, in a brutal act born of desperation from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, attacked three oil tankers belonging to the Islamic Republic, causing damage,” the force said in a statement, Tasnim reported.
In response, “the fighters of the IRGC Navy targeted three oil tankers traveling along an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three vessels affiliated with the child-killing United States, in other areas,” it added.
Iran closed the energy chokepoint following the launch of the latest bout of unprovoked American-Israeli aggression against the country on February 28 and has sternly warned vessels against buying into Washington’s claims that the strait remains open, asserting that any vessel attempting to transit the waterway in reliance on such claims would be targeted.
The IRGC Navy reiterated the warning to all vessels present in the Persian Gulf and in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz, urging them not to “fall for the deception of the terrorist US military, and refrain from any suspicious movement aimed at transiting unauthorized waterways.”
“Otherwise, you will be targeted,” the statement concluded.
Iran’s attacks came a day after the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American military operations in the region, said its forces launched attacks on three Iranian tankers in the Persian Gulf and in the Gulf of Oman.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a Saturday statement condemned the attacks, saying they represented a clear violation of international law.
It said the attacks “constitute a clear violation of Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, constitute a war crime, and represent an overt threat to international peace and the security of commercial shipping.”
The Iranian mission to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) also denounced the US strikes on oil tankers as “cowardly” and “an explicit admission” of crimes against civilians.
In a post on X, the mission criticized the CENTCOM’s statement, which claimed that its attacks on Iranian oil tankers were carried out with “precision” and “professionalism,” saying such an attack was nothing to be proud of.
“You call it precision and professionalism, while overlooking the fact that a cowardly attack on a commercial oil tanker is by no means something to be proud of or glorified,” it said.
The tit-for-tat attacks come as the US has intensified its aggression against Iran in recent days, carrying out strikes on several locations across the country.
On Monday, US military bombed Iran’s Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, killing three people. A day later, US launched missile attacks on different locations in southern cities, killing at least 12 people and wounding scores others. In response to the attacks, Iran’s Armed Forces launched a series of retaliatory missile and drone strikes against US military positions in Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.