US Central Command forces struck three Iranian crude oil tankers on Saturday. The strikes were in response to unprovoked attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Centcom said in a statement.
The carriers targeted in the US strikes were M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask. A third vessel, M/T Kylo (also called "Noxen”), was 'rendered inoperable' in the Gulf of Oman after the crew were directed to abandon ship, Centcom added.
US forces said the three tankers are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” Centcom chief Admiral Brad Cooper said.
“We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) outlet reported a US strike on an Iranian tanker near Kharg Island earlier on Saturday. The tanker was struck by four American missiles in the island's anchorage area, with no casualties initially reported and crew members safely evacuated, IRIB reported.
Targeting Iran's oil infrastructure
Mr Trump last week released an AI-generated video depicting an attack on Kharg Island, prompting fears that Iran's oil infrastructure could become a target in the conflict.
“Several explosions were heard … in the area of Kharg Island,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Saturday. “No official and accurate information has been released yet about the cause and origin of these sounds, and additional details will be announced later.”
Kharg Island handles about 90 per cent of Iran’s crude exports, with the island’s loading capacity pegged at 7 million barrels per day and storage capacity at 30 million barrels.
Before the war, most shipments from Kharg Island were for Asian customers, with a significant majority, about 80 per cent, going to China.
“Any sustained damage to Kharg would effectively halt Iranian crude exports, currently estimated at roughly 1.5 million-1.8 million bpd, representing a meaningful share of global supply,” Noureldeen Al Hammoury, chief market strategist at Equiti Group, told The National.
The reported strikes on Kharg Island come as Mr Trump threatened to put “maximal pressure” on Iran's economy. On August 19, he posted on Truth Social, announcing “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country”, adding that “this will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale”.
Threats of economic damage
Five days later, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a press conference that the objective “is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone”.
The strike near Kharg Island came hours after Mr Trump threatened another potential escalation, saying the US could strike Iran's heavily fortified Pickaxe Mountain “very soon”.
“We may hit Pickaxe very soon,” Mr Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He did not give a clear reason for the strike.
Known in Farsi as Kuh-e Kolang, Pickaxe Mountain is an underground complex near Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant. Satellite imagery suggests construction began around 2020, with extensive tunnels excavated beneath the mountain. It is located north of Isfahan, central Iran.
Iran says the site will house a centrifuge assembly plant, but UN inspectors have not been granted full access. The complex is reportedly buried up to 600 metres beneath granite.
Some weapons experts have questioned whether even the US military's most powerful bunker-buster bombs would be sufficient to destroy a plant built at such depth, although the extent of the site's vulnerability remains unknown.
