The U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers in response to an attack on its aircraft carrier

The U.S. military struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) on X—the U.S. military command responsible for overseeing U.S. forces in the Middle East.

“An American aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded several unprovoked attacks by Iran,” CENTCOM stated, noting that in response, the U.S. military “disabled tankers belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) <...> off the island of Khark and near [the Iranian city of] Jask,” and also “rendered an unloaded [Iranian] tanker, known as the Noxen, inoperable in the Gulf of Oman.”

Central Command described all three Iranian tankers as “part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.”

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously fired ballistic missiles at U.S. forces in the Middle East, but the attempted attack on U.S. warships was viewed as a serious escalation, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

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