US Sinks Five Iranian Tankers, Iran Strikes More Than a Dozen Ships, and Brent Passes $100

The United States Central Command said its forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on September 8 and 9, striking the Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco in the Gulf of Oman and the Derya near Kharg Island. American commanders said the crews were ordered to abandon ship before the vessels were hit, and that the tankers moved oil through a network financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The strikes followed two IRGC ballistic missile attempts against a US Navy warship over the preceding two days.

Iran's response was the largest declared wave of attacks on shipping in the six-month war. The IRGC said it hit more than a dozen ships near the Strait of Hormuz, counting two American vessels, eight oil tankers and ten more it described as "non-compliant." One seafarer was killed and another went missing aboard the products tanker Hercules Star at anchorage off Dubai, which maritime security sources said may have been struck by a drone. The tanker New Andros, carrying about two million barrels of fuel oil, caught fire after a drone strike in Iraqi waters. Its 22 crew were unhurt.

Oil markets moved immediately. Brent crude passed $100 a barrel for the first time since July and held near $101 the following day, roughly 30 percent above its early-August low. Daan Struyven, co-head of global commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said continued attacks on shipping raise the risk of prices above $120. War risk insurance for a Hormuz transit now runs between 3 and 10 percent of a ship's hull value, against 0.25 percent before the war.

Iran also fired ballistic missiles at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base near Al-Azraq in Jordan, which it named as retaliation for the tanker strikes. Jordan says it intercepted 18 of the 20 missiles. The two that landed severely damaged the wing of an A-10 and lightly damaged about eight F-15E aircraft, which remain serviceable, and no American casualties were reported. Iran has increased its targeting of the base in recent weeks, Al Jazeera reported. The base hosts American aircraft, which makes Jordan a participant in a conflict its government did not choose. The Israeli outlet Ynet reported earlier that nine aircraft were damaged in this week's Iranian strikes on Jordan and that American forces fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors in response.

Ynet also reported, citing The Wall Street Journal, that senior officials warned President Donald Trump the confrontation could continue until 2029, the end of his term. Trump has said publicly that the war will end "immediately" after the November congressional elections. The Japan Times reported that Iran shows little sign of easing and is prepared to escalate.

On the diplomatic track, the United States pushed a censure resolution through the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that refers Iran's nuclear file to the United Nations Security Council. The resolution, submitted jointly by the United States, Britain, France and Germany, passed with 23 votes of the 35-member board, with China, Russia and Niger voting against. It is the first such referral in about twenty years. Western governments say Iran has failed to explain uranium traces found at undeclared sites and has restricted inspectors. Iran's mission to the United Nations says inspections cannot proceed normally because American and Israeli strikes damaged the facilities in question, and it rejected the resolution as an attempt to force capitulation. Both positions rest on the same underlying event, which is that the sites were bombed.