6 min readSI-written · strict E-Prime · stand-in image, not of this event: June 2012 U.S. Navy photo of USS New York and USS Porter in the Strait of Hormuz
Stand-in, not a photo of this event · June 2012 U.S. Navy photo of USS New York and USS Porter in the Strait of Hormuz · Jonathan P. Idle, U.S. Navy · Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, cropped
Key facts
U.S. Central Command says its forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers on Sept. 5 after the IRGC fired ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships, which evaded the attacks with no U.S. personnel harmed.
CENTCOM says it disabled the M/T Downy off Kharg Island and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask, and destroyed the unladen M/T Kylo, also known as the “Noxen,” in the Gulf of Oman after telling its crew to abandon ship.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry called the U.S. strikes “illegal and aggressive,” NBC News reports.
Fars said the IRGC targeted an aircraft carrier and a destroyer taking part in a naval blockade, and Tasnim reported no casualties on a tanker hit near Kharg, according to NBC News.
Evidence status
LabelDeveloping · CENTCOM primary and Iranian statements via NBC News; no independent confirmation of the missile attack
The U.S. account comes from CENTCOM’s Sept. 5 release; Iranian accounts come from the Foreign Ministry, Fars and Tasnim as NBC News reports them. No independent source in this desk’s reading confirms either side’s description of the missile fire.
U.S. forces struck three Iranian crude oil tankers on Saturday, Sept. 5, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships, according to a U.S. Central Command release. CENTCOM says an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer evaded multiple attacks and that no American personnel came to harm.
CENTCOM says it permanently disabled the M/T Downy off Kharg Island and the M/T Stark 1 near Jask, and destroyed the unladen M/T Kylo, also known as the “Noxen,” in the Gulf of Oman after directing its crew to abandon ship. It describes the tankers as part of a shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies. “If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as “illegal and aggressive” and accused Washington of waging a naval blockade and economic war against Iran, NBC News reports. Iran’s semiofficial Fars agency said the IRGC fired ballistic missiles at an aircraft carrier and a destroyer that it said had joined the blockade while “harassing Iranian vessels,” and Tasnim reported no casualties aboard a tanker hit near Kharg, according to NBC. Neither side’s account of the missile fire has independent confirmation in the reports this desk read.
What the sources emphasize
Deterrence
Drawing on Adm. Cooper’s statement, Washington framed the strikes as raising the price of any attack on its ships.
Blockade
Drawing on Iran’s Foreign Ministry via NBC News, Tehran framed the strikes as part of a U.S. naval blockade and economic war against Iran.
