Updates with details throughout.
The US military on Tuesday carried out strikes that destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Mideast Gulf and Gulf of Oman while Iran retaliated with a barrage of missiles targeting a US base in Jordan.
US forces destroyed the tanker Derya near Kharg Island, Iran's key oil loading hub, said Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the Middle East-based US forces. The US also destroyed the tankers Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco located in the Gulf of Oman, giving crew enough warning to abandon the vessels first, according to Centcom.
US forces destroyed three Iranian tankers on 5 September. In both cases, Centcom cited Iranian missile attacks against US warships as a justification for the destruction of Iranian tankers.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday, following the latest US attacks, that it will retaliate with attacks on US bases across the region. IRGC also issued a warning to crews of all tankers located at ports or near the coast of Kuwait and Bahrain to evacuate vessels, according to Iranian news agency Tasnim, which is affiliated with IRGC.
Alerts issued by the Jordanian defense authorities indicate that a US military base in that country became a target of Iranian missile attacks. So far, there has been no independent confirmation of any hits against tankers near Kuwait and Bahrain.
Tehran threatened severe retaliation after the 5 September attacks. It said it struck 6 tankers across the Mideast Gulf, but there has been no independent confirmation of direct Iranian attacks on tankers since 5 September.
Iran's ability to target US warships and commercial vessels passing through Hormuz counters recent US claims of having decisively eliminated Tehran's military threat and of enabling an increase in oil exports through the critical waterway.
A number of energy sector facilities in the southern region of Saudi Arabia came under attack early Tuesday, according to the Saudi energy ministry, causing fires at a number of locations. Yemen's Houthi militant group has taken credit for those attacks.
Iran will soon announce the establishment of a new and broader "prohibited zone" for vessels looking to cross the strait of Hormuz, Iran's Supreme National Security Council Mosen Rezaei said on Monday.
Vessel traffic through the strait of Hormuz rose to 15 transits on Monday from 12 the previous day but still remained well below pre-war levels, data from maritime security Windward show.
October Nymex WTI was up by 2pc to settle at $93.03/bl on Tuesday.
