US Strikes Iranian Government Tankers for First Time Under New Tanker-for-Tanker Policy

On September 1, US forces struck two Iranian government tankers for the first time. Missiles fired by US drones hit the tankers' engine rooms as part of a wider operation targeting roughly 100 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sites across the region. President Trump had approved a "tanker-for-tanker" policy directing the military to answer Iranian attacks on commercial shipping by destroying Iran's own oil tankers.

Both tankers were anchored off Iran's northern coast, north of the American naval blockade line. CENTCOM said the operation followed "recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members." About 100 targets were struck in total, spanning IRGC air defense sites, radar equipment, communications networks, anti-ship missile batteries and drone launchers.

Roughly 40 cargo carriers transited the Strait of Hormuz safely on Tuesday while US forces intercepted multiple anti-ship missiles and drones aimed at commercial traffic. Pressure on the waterway had been building for days before the strikes: the Saudi tanker Sidr was struck by three projectiles while exiting the strait on August 31, and US forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in their first kinetic action inside the strait. Tuesday's tanker strikes escalated that posture further still.

Iran's IRGC disputed the account, claiming the two tankers had struck naval mines rather than been hit by American weapons. It threatened "additional punitive measures against maritime companies" that breach Iranian protocols and widened its list of barred tankers from 46 to 57.

US officials said the operation had "bought at least a month" of reduced threat for commercial traffic through Hormuz. MarineRadar data showed 265 devices tracking the region over the past 48 hours, among the highest readings on the platform. With roughly 20 percent of global oil supply transiting the strait, commercial operators have been watching this waterway more closely than almost any other area on earth.