U.S. sinks five Iranian tankers; Jordan intercepts 18 of 20 missiles aimed at Azraq
CENTCOM named the Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco and Derya. Jordan said two of 20 Iranian ballistic missiles fell in empty ground. The IRGC claimed strikes on 10 ships in Hormuz. Brent crossed $100.
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U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday that American forces had destroyed five Iranian crude carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired ballistic missiles at a Navy warship twice in two days. The named ships were the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and the M/T Derya near Kharg Island, the main Iranian export terminal. CENTCOM said crews were told to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable. A later update said one tanker had sunk. Video released by the command showed a hull on fire and going down by the bow.
Iranian state media reported attacks off Kharg and off Jask, on the southern shore east of the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC then said it had launched a heavy missile strike on the U.S. presence at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Azraq in eastern Jordan, and that it had fired on two Navy destroyers, identified in some Iranian reports as the USS Delbert D. Black and the USS John Paul Jones. Jordan's armed forces said air defences engaged 20 ballistic missiles, destroyed 18, and that two fell in unpopulated areas. No casualties were reported. A U.S. official said American troops were accounted for and that the Jordan strikes were ineffective.
On Wednesday the IRGC also said it had attacked 10 ships trying to cross a zone it called prohibited and unsafe in the Strait of Hormuz, listing two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers. Military Times, citing shipping sources, reported at least one seafarer killed and another missing. CENTCOM said it was investigating those claims. The Guards warned crews near Kuwait and Bahrain, both hosts to American forces, to evacuate.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in Colombia, set out the new American rule in plain terms. Iran keeps trying to hit U.S. naval ships, he said, and each attempt will cost it tankers. CENTCOM described the five destroyed carriers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies. The war is now in its sixth month. After a stretch of quieter weeks, both sides have returned to shipping as the main pressure point, because the strait still carries a large share of seaborne oil and gas even when traffic is thinned by insurance and routing changes.
The price signal arrived quickly. Brent, the international marker, crossed $100 a barrel for the first time since late July. WTI held in the mid-90s. India, which imports more than 88 percent of its crude, saw the Sensex close 813.35 points lower on Wednesday at 74,764.23, its weakest finish since 11 June. Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday wounded 73 people and set fires that briefly halted work at energy sites. Riyadh answered with 32 airstrikes across four Yemeni governorates.
Jordan sits in a tight spot. The Azraq base has hosted U.S. aircraft and support units for years. Amman intercepted the incoming salvo and reported no deaths, which limited the immediate military cost. The political cost is different. Each Iranian launch into Jordanian airspace pulls a U.S. partner deeper into a fight that began as an American campaign to squeeze Iran's oil earnings and has now become a running duel over hulls, hangars and insurance rates.
Washington has been trying to shift the campaign from open bombardment toward economic isolation. The Treasury this week designated the remaining Iranian airlines under the Economic Outcast programme. Sinking tankers is a cruder tool. It removes lift from Iran's export fleet and raises the risk premium on every voyage that still uses Hormuz. It also gives Tehran a pretext to fire at bases and at commercial ships that have no part in the IRGC network.
The next test is whether the 10-ship claim becomes a confirmed casualty list. If independent maritime agencies record deaths and missing crew, insurers will widen war-risk exclusions and more cargo will reroute around Africa. If the claim stays unverified, the market will still price the threat. Either way, the week has moved the war from airfields and enrichment halls onto the water, where a single burning hull can move the oil price by several dollars and force governments that buy crude to revise their inflation numbers before the next summit.
