Iran Escalates Confrontation with US, Targets Warships and Base
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Iran Escalates Confrontation with US, Targets Warships and Base
- In the past week, Iranian forces have launched ballistic missiles at US warships, including an aircraft carrier and destroyers, and attacked a US airbase in Jordan, damaging aircraft.
- These actions follow US strikes on Iranian oil tankers, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Iran will lose tankers for every attack on US naval ships.
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Recent days have seen a significant escalation in tensions between Iran and the United States, marked by Iranian missile attacks on US military assets and retaliatory US strikes on Iranian oil tankers. Since September 4, Iran has fired an unspecified number of ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier, US Navy destroyers, and at least one US Marine vessel. US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that on September 5, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force attempted to attack two US Navy warships, and again on September 8, the IRGC fired ballistic missiles targeting a US Navy warship twice. US officials have characterized some of these incidents as “close calls.”
In a separate but related development, an Iranian ballistic missile barrage struck Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight on September 8-9. This attack resulted in damage to multiple US warplanes, including one A-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft that lost a wing and approximately eight F-15E Strike Eagles that sustained lighter damage. Jordanian air defenses intercepted 18 of the 20 ballistic missiles fired from Iran, with the remaining two falling in unpopulated areas and causing no casualties.
These Iranian actions come in response to US forces destroying five Iranian crude oil tankers on September 8, bringing the total to 10 Iranian tankers since September 5. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly stated that for every attempt by Iran to hit US naval ships, they will lose tankers. Iran, in turn, has claimed to have attacked 10 ships, including commercial vessels, near the Strait of Hormuz and has threatened further attacks on non-Iranian commercial vessels. The Strait of Hormuz remains a critical and contested waterway, with approximately 20% of the world’s oil and gas transiting through it.