The United States destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on September 8, four in the Gulf of Oman and one near Kharg Island, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps twice attempted to strike a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles over the preceding two days.

U.S. Central Command said the warship evaded both attempts and that no American personnel were harmed. Iran responded hours later by firing roughly 20 ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, also known as Al Azraq, in Jordan, where U.S. forces are stationed. The Jordanian Armed Forces said 18 of the missiles were intercepted and destroyed, with two falling in unpopulated areas and no casualties reported.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the strikes while speaking to reporters, saying, “Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers.” The policy predates Tuesday’s strikes.

After the IRGC fired on two U.S. Navy warships on September 5, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper warned that Washington would escalate its response disproportionately: “If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours.”

That day’s strikes disabled three Iranian tankers. Tuesday’s strikes against five more brought the total number of Iranian tankers the United States has destroyed or disabled since September 5 to eight.

Iran also expanded its retaliation beyond U.S. military targets to include neutral commercial shipping. Iran said it attacked 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on September 9, including two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers, though none of those claims were independently confirmed. One seafarer aboard the Gibraltar-flagged tanker Hercules Star was killed and another went missing after the vessel, anchored off Dubai, was struck by what maritime security sources believe was a drone.

A separate tanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of fuel oil, the New Andros, caught fire after being struck in Iraqi territorial waters; no casualties were reported among its 22 crew. The Institute for the Study of War assessed that Iran is targeting stationary, anchored vessels rather than moving ones because Iranian forces have struggled to track and strike ships underway, even as Strait of Hormuz traffic has increased.

Iran also used cluster-munition ballistic missiles in the Al Azraq strike, marking its first use of such weapons in months. Two U.S. officials said the strike caused only minimal damage and no American deaths.

The naval blockade squeezing Iran’s oil exports is pushing Tehran to raise domestic fuel prices. On September 8, the government doubled the gasoline price for its heaviest users from 50,000 to 100,000 rials per liter for consumption exceeding the monthly quota of 110 liters. Lost export revenue from the blockade is adding pressure to a state budget that has long relied on cheap, subsidized fuel.

Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said the increase affects only the roughly 15 percent of drivers who exceed the monthly quota, leaving unchanged the subsidized rate paid by most Iranians. The government is proceeding carefully. A similar gasoline price increase in 2019 triggered nationwide protests and a crackdown by Iranian security forces that reportedly killed more than 300 people.

The International Monetary Fund projects that Iran’s economy will contract by 5.4 percent in 2026 while consumer prices rise by 68.9 percent. On August 24, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched Operation Economic Outcast, describing it as “an unprecedented, whole-of-government, economic campaign” designed to “sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”

Speaking at the G20 finance ministers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, on September 1, Bessent said the United States intends to “economically asphyxiate” the regime. He also estimated that Iran has roughly 30 million barrels of crude remaining that China has not already purchased. Once that reserve is exhausted, Iran will have no remaining unsold crude stockpile.

The economic impact is already visible in China, Iran’s largest remaining oil customer. Independent Chinese “teapot” refineries have begun buying Brazilian and Iraqi crude as alternatives to increasingly scarce Iranian oil. Energy Aspects analyst Sun Jianan said, “Given the thin Iranian availability amid the U.S. blockade, Chinese teapots are now looking beyond Russia and Iran.”

The escalation has also affected financial markets. Brent crude settled at $97.89 on September 8 before rising 2.4 percent to $100.29 early the next morning, surpassing $100 for the first time in nearly six weeks.

President Trump addressed the conflict on September 8 during a White House event marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. “We’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance of getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump added, “Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve been punished greatly.”

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