STRAIT OF HORMUZ / GULF OF OMAN — Iranian state media said Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps retaliated against six ships after U.S. Central Command announced strikes that permanently disabled two Iranian oil tankers and destroyed a third — an escalation claim the BBC said CENTCOM had not confirmed.

According to Iran’s state broadcaster Irib, as reported by the BBC, the IRGC said it hit three oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz on what Tehran called “unauthorized” routes, plus three vessels “affiliated” with the United States in other areas. Irib warned other ships not to use those Hormuz routes. The BBC said it had approached CENTCOM for comment on the Iranian claims and had not received confirmation.

Earlier Saturday, CENTCOM said a U.S. aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian ballistic-missile attacks and that no American personnel were harmed. In response, the command said it permanently disabled the IRGC crude carriers M/T Downy off Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask, and completely destroyed the unladen M/T Kylo (also known as the “Noxen”) in the Gulf of Oman after directing the crew to abandon ship. CENTCOM described the three tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, said in the DVIDS statement. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Hours before Iran’s six-ship claim circulated, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media: “It’s simple: if Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers,” the BBC reported.

Irib said there were no casualties in the U.S. strike near Kharg Island, Iran’s main crude-export terminal, and that crews from the two tankers hit in the Gulf of Oman reached shore in lifeboats — one vessel empty and the other carrying oil, according to the BBC’s account of Iranian state media.

The exchange lands six months into the U.S.–Iran war that began with joint U.S.–Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to normal traffic since February and remains Tehran’s main leverage over global energy markets, even as President Donald Trump has insisted the strait is “open” and U.S. forces have escorted ships on a southern route through Omani waters. On Friday, the average U.S. diesel price hit about $5.85 a gallon, compared with $3.71 a year earlier, the BBC reported. Trump on Friday again dismissed the conflict as “small potatoes” and has not commented on Saturday’s ship strikes.

Insanity Developing earlier covered CENTCOM’s three-tanker strike announcement separately; this update focuses on Iran’s claimed six-ship retaliation and the still-unconfirmed escalation.

Sources