Iran and the United States have launched their biggest wave of attacks on shipping since the six-month-old war began, intensifying fears over global energy supplies.
Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers.
The attacks sent benchmark Brent crude futures above $100 a barrel for the first time since July, while at least one seafarer was killed and another reported missing.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps also threatened to sharply escalate its response to further attacks and said it would soon release maps showing a new restricted maritime zone extending as far as Chabahar, near Pakistan.
The escalation follows a month of relative calm during which Washington had sought to pressure Tehran through economic measures.
Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US military base in Jordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, while two others landed harmlessly in unpopulated areas. A US official said all American troops were accounted for.
President Donald Trump accused Tehran of attempting to influence the November US midterm elections.
“I think war is going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer. They’re desperate to try and affect the election,” he told reporters.
The Wall Street Journal later reported that senior White House advisers, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had privately warned Trump that the conflict could continue through the remainder of his presidency. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The latest attacks come as fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen has also intensified, creating another threat to energy supplies from the Middle East.
The US military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight and released footage showing vessels ablaze before sinking.
US Central Command said the strikes were retaliation for attacks by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on a US Navy warship using ballistic missiles. Washington said no Americans were injured.
The US has announced a policy of attacking Iranian tankers in retaliation for fire directed at its warships and said it had struck 10 tankers over the past week.
“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
Iran said it had fired on two US ships and eight tankers in response.
One seafarer was killed aboard the oil products tanker Hercules Star while it was anchored off Dubai, while another crew member remained missing, according to the vessel’s charterer, Peninsula.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported that a vessel in the area was listing after being struck by a projectile, although Reuters could not immediately establish whether it was the same ship.
Two Iraqi port officials said the New Andros, carrying about two million barrels of fuel oil, caught fire after being hit by a drone in Iraqi waters. No casualties were reported among its 22 crew members.
The UKMTO said it had received reports of several merchant vessels being struck by disabling fire in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side of the Strait of Hormuz.
A maritime security source also reported damage to a liquefied natural gas tanker at the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan.
The latest attacks threaten efforts to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route that carried about one-fifth of global oil supplies before the war.
Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy, said oil flows through the strait had fallen to as little as two million barrels per day, from between eight million and nine million barrels per day before fighting resumed on August 30.
The disruption has also pushed up the cost of refined fuels, with the average US retail price of diesel reaching a record above $5.94 per gallon on Wednesday.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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