Axios, citing U.S. officials, reports that the U.S. military targeted oil tankers in attacks

Axios, citing U.S. officials, reported that the U.S. Army targeted three oil tankers belonging to the Islamic Republic in Tuesday’s attacks. According to these officials, this was the first time the United States directly targeted Iranian tankers in response to the Islamic Republic’s attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

The tankers had been anchored near the coasts of Iran and north of the U.S. maritime blockade line, and missiles fired from American drone aircraft hit their engine rooms.

One U.S. official said the attack was part of the new “tankers for tankers” policy that Donald Trump, the U.S. president, approved as deterrence against the Islamic Republic’s attacks on tankers.

Axios wrote that in Tuesday’s attacks, about 100 targets were hit. A U.S. official said these attacks weakened Tehran’s ability to attack in the Strait of Hormuz and reduced the level of threat against commercial ships by at least one month.

According to one U.S. official, about 40 ships carrying millions of barrels of oil passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and American forces tracked several missiles and drones launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps toward the ships.