CAIRO/WASHINGTON/DUBAI | Iran and the United States have carried out their largest declared wave of attacks on shipping since their six-month-old war began, with Iran reporting strikes on 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz after U.S. forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers.
The escalation has sharply increased the risks to commercial shipping and global energy supplies, while oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel as vessels increasingly avoid the strategic waterway.
According to Reuters, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that it attacked 10 ships, including two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers, near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also said it fired ballistic missiles at a military base used by U.S. forces near Al Azraq in eastern Jordan.
Jordan’s armed forces said its air defenses intercepted 18 of 20 Iranian ballistic missiles aimed at the country. Two missiles fell in unpopulated areas, with no casualties reported. A U.S. official said the Iranian attack was ineffective and that all American personnel were accounted for.
The attacks followed the U.S. military’s destruction of five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command said the strikes were carried out after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard twice targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles over two days. No American casualties were reported, and the crews of the targeted tankers were warned to abandon their vessels before the attacks, according to U.S. officials.
Iran’s claims of damage to the 10 vessels have not been independently confirmed in full. The United States, meanwhile, has denied that its naval vessels suffered damage from the Iranian attacks. This distinction is important as both sides continue to issue competing accounts of the fighting.
The confrontation is having an immediate impact on energy markets. Reuters reported that Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel, while maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply. The waterway is one of the world’s most important energy routes, and disruption there threatens oil and gas shipments to markets across Asia, Europe and elsewhere.
The Strait of Hormuz has become a central pressure point in the conflict because of its importance to global energy trade. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed through the waterway, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Iran has increasingly threatened shipping in and around the strait, while U.S. forces have sought to maintain maritime access.
The latest attacks also come amid a broader expansion of the conflict. Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have launched attacks on Saudi targets, including energy infrastructure, prompting Saudi retaliatory strikes. The renewed fighting has raised fears that the conflict could spread beyond Iran and the United States and place additional pressure on already disrupted regional trade routes.
The escalation represents a significant departure from the relative calm of the previous month. With both Washington and Tehran now targeting maritime and energy assets, the Strait of Hormuz has become one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the conflict, with consequences extending well beyond the Middle East.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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