The United States and Iran have escalated tit-for-tat attacks in the past 24 hours, with Washington targeting three Iranian oil tankers and Tehran hitting tankers and firing a ballistic missile towards US warships patrolling near the Strait of Hormuz. Experts have dubbed Iran’s targeting of the two US aircraft carriers a “calculated escalation”, as the months-long fighting is increasingly playing out at sea, with both sides trying to exert control over the strategic strait – a global chokepoint used by Tehran as leverage in the war. The attacks on tankers come as the US claims that an increasing volume of oil has started to flow through the strait, though the exact figures are still debatable, while the naval blockade of Iranian ports continues.
The latest exchanges further dim hopes for a de-escalation through diplomacy as the US-Israel war on Iran has disrupted energy supplies and slowed economic growth around the world. So, what do we know about the latest tanker wars, and where is the conflict headed? US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces struck three Iranian vessels, including a tanker off Kharg Island, the hub through which Iran exported 90 percent of its crude before the war.
Another tanker was struck near Jask, and an unladen vessel was hit in the Gulf of Oman after its crew was told to abandon ship. CENTCOM said the attacks followed Iranian ballistic missile launches against a US aircraft carrier and navy destroyer, which it said successfully evaded the strikes. No US personnel were injured.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched “several ballistic missiles” at the aircraft carrier and destroyer, accusing them of “harassing Iranian ships” and taking part in a naval blockade. In a statement carried by Iranian broadcaster IRIB, the IRGC navy warned all vessels in the Gulf or near the Strait of Hormuz not to be “deceived” by the US military and to “refrain from any suspicious movement aimed at transiting unauthorised waterways”. On Sunday, Iran claimed it struck an unmanned US vessel trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, according to The news agency.
Washington claimed the Iranian tankers it struck were part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network financing the IRGC and its regional allies. Iran has long relied partly on a shadow fleet to circumvent sanctions and sell oil, a source of revenue that has become more important since the US began blockading Iranian ports in April. Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies flowed, in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks that began on February 28.
Some 20 million barrels of oil flowed daily before the war began. Hassan Ghashghavi, a lawmaker and spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s National Security Commission, said the attacks on US warships were part of “an existential war with America”, arguing that Washington’s naval blockade “should never have existed” in the first place. Meanwhile, the US has continued to build pressure on Iran to open the key waterway, both militarily and economically.
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