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US military hits 3 Iranian oil tankers after saying Navy warships were targeted
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− Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics US hits Iranian oil tankers after saying Iran hit Navy warships The strikes come a day after President Trump appeared to downplay the war with Iran as "small potatoes" during an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office.
+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics U.S.
+ strikes Iranian oil tankers after Navy ships targeted One of the Iranian tankers struck was near a key area in Iran's oil-export system, according to U.S. Central Command.
− By
The Associated Press
A swimmer remains near the shore as a motorboat passes commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Friday.
+ By
Chandelis Duster
A swimmer remains near the shore as a motorboat passes commercial vessels anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas, Iran, on Friday.
− Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
CAIRO — The U.S.
+ Vahid Salemi/AP hide caption
The U.S.
− military on Saturday said it struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy warships were targeted with missiles, warning that it would "if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet."
The strikes — a day after President Donald Trump sought to minimize the conflict as "small potatoes" — keep up a new tilt back toward fighting after six months of on-again, off-again war that began with U.S.
+ military on Saturday said it struck three Iranian oil tankers after Navy ships were targeted by missiles.
U.S.
− and Israeli attacks on Feb.
+ Central Command said it struck the vessels after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched two ballistic missiles at two Navy warships patrolling the sea.
− 28.
+ CENTCOM said a U.S.
− Both sides have sought to inflict both military and economic pain, and negotiations have collapsed.
+ aircraft carrier and missile destroyer "successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks" and that no American personnel were injured.
− The military's statement said a U.S.
+ "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 Commander Adm.
− aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded "multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks" while patrolling in the region and no U.S.
+ Brad Cooper said in a statement posted on social media.
− personnel were hurt.
+ "We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet."
Strikes between the U.S.
− It said two Iranian oil carriers were "permanently disabled" and the third, unladen one, was destroyed.
The U.S.
+ and Iran resumed last weekend, after a monthlong break from the fighting, when the U.S.
− statement said the tankers were part of a shadow network helping to fund Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard and its armed proxies in the region.
+ hit several sites in Iran in response to a threat of Iran firing sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz.
− Earlier, Iranian state TV had said four U.S.
+ An Iranian oil tanker near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, a key hub for the country's oil-export system, was one of the three vessels the U.S.
− missiles struck a tanker about six miles (10 kilometers) from Kharg Island, home to a terminal through which the country exports most of its oil.
+ struck on Saturday.
− Kharg Island been repeatedly targeted during the war, including U.S. strikes on military sites there in March.
+ A tanker in the Gulf of Oman also was hit in "multiple critical locations" and its crew had to abandon ship and another tanker near Jask was also struck, CENTCOM said.
− The U.S.
+ The three Iranian oil tankers were part of a "multibillion-dollar shadow network" that funds the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its regional proxies, CENTCOM also said in the statement.
Shadow fleets are vessels that operate outside of the official shipping system.
− said one tanker was struck off Kharg Island and another was struck near Jask, east of the Strait of Hormuz.
+ Iran uses shadow fleets as a way to move oil because it is under sanction.
− The unladen tanker was hit in the Gulf of Oman.
+ The U.S.
− The statement shared what it called video footage of the strikes.
+ has seized Iranian vessels operating under shadow networks, including two in April.
− "We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet," the head of U.S.
+ Iran's foreign ministry on Saturday condemned the U.S.
− Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper said.
+ strikes, saying that they are "a clear violation of Paragraph 4 of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, constitute a war crime, and represent an overt threat to international peace and the security of commercial shipping," according to the country's state media.
− The strikes came nearly a week after the U.S.
+ Lt.
− and Iran resumed attacks following a month of relative calm, with the strait and Iranian communities along it again being targeted.
+ Col.
− At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S.
+ Ebrahim Zolfaghari also warned Iranian forces would target American military in the region "more severely than before" if the U.S.
− bombardment of southern Iran. One strike hit a wedding.
+ continues strikes against ships, according to Iran's state media.
− The resumption of fighting came after new U.S.
+ Defense Sec.
− efforts to apply economic pressures on Tehran, whose hard-line new senior leaders have signaled the willingness to dig in after weathering decades of sanctions.
Meanwhile, the issue that helped lead to the war — Iran's nuclear program — was meant to be addressed in negotiations that fell apart soon after the U.S.
+ Pete Hegseth on Saturday said in a social media post that if Iran shoots at U.S.
− and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding in mid-June. Instead, Tehran's new leverage focuses on the strait that is crucial to global oil and natural gas shipments and was seen as an international waterway before the war began.
+ ships, "we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers."
"All they have to do is not shoot at @USNavy," Hegseth wrote.
− The U.S. military has been helping to guide ships through the strait as Tehran asserts control and targets some vessels, but overall traffic remains low.
+ NPR's Carrie Khan contributed to this report.