US military strikes 5 Iran crude tankers following missile attacks targeting US Navy warship

The US military has destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers early on Wednesday (September 9).

The attacks on Iranian tankers are in response to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days, according to the US Central Command.

"The US warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed."

Separately, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and "every time they try to do that, they're going to lose crude oil tankers".

On September 5, US forces attacked and destroyed a trio of Iranian oil tankers.

US aircraft dropped numerous munitions on the tankers, causing catastrophic damage and fires.

The 'tanker war' is becoming a new front

The Sept. 5 US strikes have effectively opened another dimension of the conflict.

Iran has earlier warned it could make enforcement of the US blockade increasingly dangerous and expensive, by targetting not just commercial tankers but also US warships as well as vessels suspected of supporting the blockade.

The objective would not necessarily be to defeat the US Navy.

It could be to make the economic cost of enforcing the blockade politically and financially unacceptable.

For years, Iran has relied on a combination of sanctions evasion, ship-to-ship transfers and opaque shipping networks to keep oil flowing despite US restrictions.

Washington is now demonstrating that it is prepared to attack vessels it considers part of that system.

Iran, meanwhile, has shown that it is prepared to challenge the US military presence protecting the blockade.

That creates a dangerous cycle: The US blockade leads to lost oil revenue for Iran, prompting Iran to attack US naval forces, which then leads to US attacks on Iranian oil facilities and tankers, and resulting in Iran threatening more US and Gulf targets.

Each step raises the stakes of the next.

Hormuz pressure point

The Strait of Hormuz is at the centre of the confrontation because it is the principal maritime gateway for Gulf oil exports.

Shipping traffic has already slowed dramatically as insurers, shipowners and crews reassess the risks.

The latest US-Iran clashes have further increased concerns that the waterway could become effectively inaccessible to portions of commercial shipping.

Reuters reported Monday that the conflict has disrupted oil flows and pushed Brent crude to its highest level since late July.