Overview
- U.S. Central Command said it destroyed five oil tankers on Tuesday that it alleges were part of a secret network used to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- Hours after the strikes, Iran’s IRGC said it launched missile attacks on a U.S. base in Al Azraq, Jordan, and struck multiple vessels in and near the Strait of Hormuz.
- Iranian state media displayed an alleged captured U.S. unmanned submarine while CENTCOM and U.S. naval officials acknowledged a U.S. submersible had malfunctioned and described it as defective and non-sensitive.
- Maritime authorities and commercial trackers reported several merchant ships damaged or left inoperable and warned that navigation through the gulf and Ormuz remains highly disrupted.
- The clashes pushed Brent toward $100 per barrel, prompted fresh U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation links, and increased the danger that allied proxies and regional states will become drawn into a wider conflict.