U.S. forces attacked multiple Iranian tankers Tuesday as retaliation for an Iranian attempt to strike a U.S. warship on Monday.
Attacks were taking place near Kharg Island and Jask, according to Fox News.
A U.S. official said the attacks are part of a two-pronged effort to retaliate when Iran tries to sink a U.S. ship and to deprive Iran of revenue from its oil.
The official said destroying tankers is “part of that pressure campaign.”
JUST IN – A US official tells me @NewsNation “American forces have struck multiple Iranian tankers tied to the IRGC in response to more attempted missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship.”
— Hannah Brandt (@HannahBrandt_TV) September 8, 2026
Over the weekend, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to hit a U.S. aircraft carrier and a destroyer, according to NBC News.
Iran said it would target oil tankers in Kuwait and Bahrain after its tankers were attacked.
“Following the actions of the American military in targeting several Iranian oil tankers, we warn all oil tanker crews in the areas around the ports of Kuwait and Bahrain, which are hosting these forces and are complicit in their actions, to immediately evacuate their vessels, whether they are at anchor or docked, as they will be targeted,” the IRGC Navy said.
Although Iran’s armed forces remain feisty, its economy is becoming feeble.
“This is the greatest economic isolation operation in the history of the world. We are going to asphyxiate this regime,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said recently, speaking of the U.S. blockade of Iran, according to Fox News.
Since the U.S. reinstated its blockade, no Iranian crude cargoes have successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz to China. Inventory cannot be replenished as crude piles up aboard vessels trapped inside the strait. Iran’s export lifeline is being cut off: stranded oil, finite… pic.twitter.com/isnCgq5V1T
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) September 4, 2026
“Six months into the war, the oil squeeze is depriving Tehran of its main source of foreign currency as the value of the Iranian rial plunges, inflation soars and the economy slides deeper into crisis,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“Now, much will depend on the degree of economic pain that the Iranian regime is willing to bear to achieve its military and geopolitical objectives,” said Hamad Hussain, an economist at Capital Economics.
Oil funds about a third of Iran’s budget, with its shadow fleet of tankers pouring oil revenue into the military.
Iran loaded 255,000 barrels a day on ships in August, down 85 percent from its February-April average, Kpler data estimated.
Iran is facing shortages and runaway inflation from the U.S. blockade, dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, according to the U.K. Guardian.
According to its report, “Iranians are facing runaway food inflation, closed petrol stations and a seemingly never-ending depreciation of the nation’s currency caused by a lack of foreign exchange reserves. Vegetable oil in Iran in August cost 383% more than a year ago. The price of eggs rose by 294%, chicken by 177%, and red meat by 148%.”
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