Iran and the United States expanded their mutual strikes; Tehran attacked a U.S. base and announced a new restricted zone at sea
Kyiv • UNN
Iran said it had struck a U.S. base and attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. The United States reported the destruction of five Iranian tankers.
Iran and the United States sharply expanded their reciprocal strikes after a month of relative calm, shifting the new escalation to military facilities and shipping near the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran attacked a U.S. base in Jordan and announced preparations for an expanded maritime exclusion zone, Reuters reports, according to UNN.
Details
Iran said it had launched 20 ballistic missiles at a U.S. military base in Jordan. According to the Jordanian side, 18 of them were intercepted, while 2 fell in uninhabited areas and caused no damage. A U.S. official said there were no casualties among U.S. military personnel.
At the same time, the confrontation sharply escalated at sea. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz — 2 American ships and 8 oil tankers. The United States, for its part, reported destroying 5 Iranian oil tankers.
Tehran threatens to expand the confrontation zone
The IRGC warned that it would intensify its response to further attacks and would soon publish a map of a new, expanded maritime exclusion zone. According to Iran, it will extend to Chabahar, near the border with Pakistan.
The United States said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers09.09.26, 04:18 • 12258 views
Washington also announced a policy of striking Iranian tankers in response to attempts to attack U.S. Navy ships. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran would lose tankers every time it attempted to strike American warships.
The new wave of attacks has already become the largest-scale disruption to shipping since the beginning of the six-month conflict. One sailor was killed aboard a tanker near Dubai, while another crew member remains missing. Damage and fires were also reported on other commercial vessels in the region.
The escalation again hit shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which before the start of the conflict carried about 20% of global oil supplies. According to an estimate by Rystad Energy, the flow through the strait has fallen to approximately 2 million barrels per day, compared with 8–9 million just a week before active hostilities resumed on August 30.