Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.
The attacks in and around the vital waterway sent the price of oil surging, with the international Brent crude benchmark breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July.
The politically sensitive average retail price of diesel fuel in the United States hit a fresh all-time high above $5.94 a gallon.
Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a base used by U.S. forces in Jordan. Attacks by both sides since the end of August have shattered a month of relative calm, with the U.S. and Iran hitting military, shipping and energy assets.
The Revolutionary Guards said they would sharply escalate their response to any further attacks, and if the enemy struck two or three Iranian targets, Iran would respond by hitting 20. Iran would soon release maps of a new, much larger off-limits zone at sea that would extend as far as the Arabian Gulf off Chabahar on the far reaches of Iran’s coast near Pakistan, the Guards said.
Recent days have also seen an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, a second theatre of war that threatens global energy supplies from the Middle East.
VIDEO SHOWS IRANIAN TANKERS ABLAZE
The Americans said they destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight, releasing video of ships ablaze before they sank. The U.S. military’s Central Command called its attacks a response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting a U.S. Navy warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the U.S. said.
Washington has announced a new policy of attacking Iranian tankers in retaliation for fire that threatens its warships, and first said it hit three tankers on Saturday. Iran says it is using new, more capable missiles to attack U.S. ships.
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“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,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
The IRGC said on Wednesday it had responded with a ballistic missile attack on a base used by U.S. forces near Al Azraq, in eastern Jordan, and had fired on two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers attempting to cross an area of the Strait of Hormuz that it has declared off-limits.
The British maritime security agency UKMTO said it had received reports of several merchant ships struck by disabling fire in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side of the strait. It was not immediately able to confirm casualties or environmental impact.
A vessel was reported listing, possibly indicating it had taken on water after being struck by a projectile off Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates, UKMTO said.
Two Iraqi port officials said a tanker carrying 2 million barrels of fuel oil, the New Andros, had caught fire after being struck by a drone in Iraqi waters. There were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew.
Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, according to a statement carried by state media. A maritime security source reported a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan.
Iran has largely choked off transit through the strait that carried a fifth of global oil before the war.
Washington has responded with a blockade of Iranian ports, and says it has been able to guide many tankers through the strait, although independent monitors say the extent to which oil is escaping has become increasingly difficult to assess. Preliminary data showed just six ships crossing with transponders on over the last 24 hours.
Iran said that its missiles fired at Jordan inflicted heavy damage. Jordan said its air defences had intercepted 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas and no casualties. A U.S. official said Iran’s strikes in Jordan were ineffective and all American troops were accounted for.
Video filmed in Ash-Shajarah, in northern Jordan, and verified by Reuters showed flashes lighting up the night sky. Iran has targeted U.S. bases in the region throughout the war and killed at least two U.S. military personnel in a strike on Jordan in July.
HOUTHI ATTACKS ON SAUDI ARABIA
Escalating combat between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls most populated parts of Yemen has created additional uncertainty for energy markets. A Saudi-backed government based in the south of Yemen has launched a multi-pronged assault on areas controlled by the Houthis, who have threatened Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
On Tuesday, the Houthis launched an attack on four cities in Saudi Arabia, causing huge fires at oil installations that were visible from space. Saudi authorities said 73 people were wounded. The Saudi Press Agency released footage showing homes severely damaged and injured patients in hospital.
A source in Pakistan, which signed a mutual defence pact with Riyadh last month, said Saudi Arabia had carried out retaliatory strikes on Yemen. The Houthis say dozens of people have been killed in Saudi airstrikes, which Saudi Arabia has not confirmed.
Saudi Arabia issued an alert warning of a potential threat on Wednesday to Khamis Mushait, one of the cities struck the previous day, but later lifted the alert without providing details.