{"id":37416,"date":"2026-09-09T16:06:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:06:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/?p=37416"},"modified":"2026-09-09T16:06:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T15:06:38","slug":"iran-and-u-s-attack-tankers-as-strait-of-hormuz-conflict-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/09\/iran-and-u-s-attack-tankers-as-strait-of-hormuz-conflict-escalates\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran and U.S. Attack Tankers as Strait of Hormuz Conflict Escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iran and the United States have sharply escalated their confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz, trading attacks on oil tankers and military targets in the biggest wave of maritime strikes since their war began more than six months ago. The fighting has further disrupted one of the world\u2019s most important energy corridors and pushed oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran said Wednesday that its forces attacked 10 ships near the strait after the U.S. military destroyed five Iranian oil tankers. Tehran also said it targeted two American naval vessels, although the U.S. Central Command rejected that claim and said the attempted attacks failed. At least one seafarer was killed during the latest violence and another was reported missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. military said its strikes on the Iranian tankers followed repeated ballistic missile attacks by Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards against an American warship. U.S. officials said the Navy vessel avoided the missiles and no American personnel were injured. Crews aboard the Iranian tankers were instructed to evacuate before the vessels were struck, according to the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oil tanker in Gulf waters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Washington would continue responding to Iranian attempts to attack American naval vessels. \u201cFor every time they do that or try to do that, they\u2019re going to lose tankers,\u201d Rubio said during a visit to Colombia. His comments signalled that attacks on Iran\u2019s oil fleet could remain part of the U.S. response if Tehran continues targeting American ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian leaders have answered with increasingly strong warnings. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran was moving beyond what he described as proportionate retaliation and promised responses that would be \u201cfaster, heavier and more painful.\u201d Mohsen Rezaei, head of Iran\u2019s Supreme National Security Council, has also said Tehran plans to establish a broader exclusion zone around waters leading toward the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial shipping has become caught in the widening confrontation. The Panama flagged New Andros, carrying about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil, caught fire after being struck in Iraqi waters. Iraqi authorities said the 22 crew members were unharmed and there was no cargo leakage. Another tanker, the Hercules Star, was hit while anchored off Dubai, where one crew member was killed and another was reported missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Strait of Hormuz map<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The violence has dramatically reduced maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Before the war began on Feb. 28, the narrow passage between Iran and Oman handled roughly 125 large commercial vessels each day and carried about one fifth of the world\u2019s daily crude oil and liquefied natural gas supply. Preliminary shipping data showed only six commodity vessels passed through the strait on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disruption is already being felt far beyond the Gulf. Brent crude climbed above 100 dollars a barrel Wednesday for the first time since July, increasing fears of higher transportation costs and renewed inflation around the world. Paul Bradshaw, an executive with Emirates National Oil Company, said insurance and war risk costs for vessels using the region have risen dramatically as shipowners become increasingly reluctant to enter dangerous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flames and smoke rise from the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which has been on fire since August 23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Energy analysts warn that continued retaliation could make the conflict increasingly difficult to contain. Danny Citrinowicz, an Iran specialist at Israel\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, said military action alone was unlikely to resolve the struggle over Hormuz. \u201cThere is no kinetic solution to the Strait of Hormuz problem,\u201d he said, warning that repeated strikes could deepen the economic damage and encourage further retaliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Strait of Hormuz has been at the centre of tensions involving Iran and Western powers for decades because of its strategic importance to global energy supplies. The current confrontation, however, has moved beyond threats and temporary shipping disruptions to direct attacks on tankers and military assets. With both Washington and Tehran promising retaliation for further strikes, governments, shipping companies and energy markets are watching closely for signs that the conflict could spread further across the Gulf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iran and the United States have sharply escalated their confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz, trading attacks on oil tankers and military targets in the biggest wave of maritime strikes since their war began more than six months ago. The fighting has further disrupted one of the world\u2019s most important energy corridors and pushed oil […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":37420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5,3],"tags":[22255,9084,22256,11491,23921,2353,9513,23923,12088,8011,3551,11493,23429,11490,9083,10287,23922,23920,13999,389],"class_list":["post-37416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-naija-news","tag-crude-oil-prices","tag-energy-security","tag-global-oil-market","tag-global-trade","tag-gulf-conflict","tag-international-news","tag-iran","tag-iran-revolutionary-guards","tag-maritime-security","tag-middle-east-crisis","tag-middle-east-tensions","tag-oil-supply","tag-oil-tankers","tag-persian-gulf","tag-shipping-disruption","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-tanker-attacks","tag-u-s-iran-conflict-3","tag-u-s-navy","tag-united-states"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CONJCWC2BJPH3PDSWDTOOEA3YI.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37421,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37416\/revisions\/37421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.funminews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}