Iran warned Saturday that it could expand its military response and strike U.S. naval vessels “more severely than before” after American forces said they destroyed or disabled three Iranian oil tankers following missile attacks on two Navy warships.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, as saying Iranian armed forces would respond more forcefully if the United States continued what he called acts of aggression, harassment of Iranian ships or a naval blockade.
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Zolfaghari said the scope of Iran’s response could broaden if Washington continued its actions against Iran. His comments followed a U.S. military statement saying an American aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded multiple Iranian ballistic missile attacks while on patrol. U.S. Central Command said no American personnel were hurt.
U.S. forces then struck three Iranian oil tankers, the command said. Two oil carriers were permanently disabled and a third, unladen tanker was destroyed, according to CENTCOM, which said the vessels were part of a network used to help fund Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and allied armed groups.
“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”
The exchange marked another escalation in months of intermittent fighting that began after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this year. The conflict has disrupted energy markets and heightened concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important oil transit routes.
The Associated Press reported that President Donald Trump on Friday described the conflict in Iran as “small potatoes” while defending Vice President JD Vance’s assertion that months of on-and-off attacks in the Middle East do not amount to a “war.”
Asked during an Oval Office exchange about Vance’s comments a day earlier, Trump said U.S. strikes on Iran are now “intermittent” and that “a lot of people don’t call it a war.” The Associated Press reported that the conflict has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $37.5 billion and left 18 U.S. service members dead.
“I can understand what he’s saying,” Trump said. “I call it a military conflict because it’s small potatoes for us. It’s not a big thing.”
Vance, speaking at a White House press briefing Thursday, rejected the use of the word “war” to describe the U.S. fighting with Iran and did not predict whether the six-month-old conflict would end before November’s midterm elections, when Republicans are trying to hold their narrow majorities in Congress.