Tensions between the United States and Iran have surged to their highest level in months after the two sides launched a fresh wave of attacks targeting military and maritime assets across the Gulf and the wider Middle East.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz and launched ballistic missiles toward a U.S.-used military base near Al Azraq in Jordan.
The claims came after Washington announced that its forces had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Kharg Island.
The United States said the tanker strikes were carried out in response to Iranian missile attacks on American naval vessels. Washington maintains that its warships were targeted twice by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, although no U.S. personnel were injured in those attacks.
Jordan said its air-defence systems intercepted 18 of 20 Iranian missiles fired toward its territory, with no casualties reported. The United States also said the attack did not cause injuries among its personnel.
The latest confrontation marks a major escalation in the six-month-old conflict, ending a period of relative calm and drawing commercial shipping deeper into the hostilities.
The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy routes, has seen a sharp decline in tanker traffic as Iran restricts passage and the United States maintains a naval blockade around Iranian ports.
The disruption has sent global oil prices above 100 dollars a barrel for the first time since July, fuelling concerns about energy supplies and the wider economic impact of prolonged instability in the region.
With both Washington and Tehran signalling that further attacks could trigger stronger retaliation, the latest exchange has heightened fears that the conflict could expand beyond Iran and the United States, drawing more countries and critical energy infrastructure into the fighting.
