Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that it’s ready to launch “heavy attacks” on US assets in the region if more Iranian oil tankers are targeted by the US military.
“Any attack on Iranian tankers and commercial vessels will result in a heavy attack on one of the American centers in the region and enemy ships,” the IRGC said on Saturday after the US military attacked two Iranian tankers.
Ebrahim Rezaei, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, issued a similar warning on Sunday. “As of today, our restraint is over,” he said. “Any aggression against our vessels will be met with a heavy and decisive Iranian response against American vessels and bases.”
On Friday, May 8, US Central Command said in a statement that a US Navy F/A-18 fighter jet launched from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush “disabled” two Iranian tankers by “firing precision munitions into their smokestacks.” CENTCOM accused the ships of attempting to violate the “ongoing US blockade” of Iranian ports and said the attack stopped “the non-compliant ships from entering Iran.”
A US F/A-18 also fired on an Iranian oil tanker on May 6, and the US bombed Iranian ports on May 7, an attack it said was a response to US Navy destroyers coming under Iranian drone and missile attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.
While the US and Israel haven’t restarted the full-scale bombing campaign against Iran, it’s clear the war hasn’t ended since the US is enforcing a blockade, attacking commercial ships, and has launched at least one round of airstrikes against targets inside Iran.
There have been reports of drone attacks on Gulf Arab nations this weekend, but so far, no significant attacks targeting US bases or other assets in the region.
