TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / September 6, 2026
Iran warned that continued US maritime restrictions and attacks on Iranian shipping could trigger harsher and wider strikes against American warships in the region.
Iran has warned that its armed forces could launch harsher and more extensive attacks against US warships in the region if Washington continues its maritime blockade and actions against Iranian vessels.
A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters issued the warning on Saturday evening, amid a sharp escalation in maritime fighting between Tehran and Washington.
The spokesperson said that if the blockade and what Tehran described as harassment of Iranian vessels continued, strikes by the Iranian armed forces against US warships in the region would be “harsher than before.”
The Iranian response, he added, could extend beyond increasing the intensity of individual attacks.
According to the statement, Iran could also expand the geographical and military scope of its operations against US actions in the region if Washington did not halt the blockade and attacks.
The warning came after the US military said it had struck three Iran-linked oil tankers on Saturday following what Washington described as Iranian attacks targeting two American warships.
Three tankers struck
US Central Command said its forces had “permanently disabled” two tankers and “completely destroyed” a third.
One of the vessels was struck near Kharg Island, home to Iran’s principal crude oil export terminal, while two others were targeted in the Gulf of Oman.
Iranian state media said there were no casualties aboard the tanker struck near Kharg Island and reported that its cooling system extinguished a fire within approximately an hour.
The crews of the two vessels attacked in the Gulf of Oman reached shore in lifeboats, according to Iranian state media. One tanker was reportedly empty, while the other was carrying oil.
CENTCOM said the vessels were part of what it described as a multibillion-dollar network financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The latest strikes form part of a wider US campaign against Iranian maritime activity. CENTCOM has publicly acknowledged enforcing a blockade on vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports and coastal areas.
In June, the command said it had disabled nine vessels, redirected 135 others and allowed 42 carrying humanitarian assistance to pass since enforcement of the blockade began on April 13.
Iran retaliates
Iran subsequently announced retaliatory operations against six vessels in the region.
According to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, the IRGC targeted three oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and three vessels it described as affiliated with the United States elsewhere in the region.
The IRGC said the three tankers had been traveling through “unauthorized” routes in the Strait of Hormuz and warned other vessels against using those routes.
The latest exchange followed what CENTCOM described as Iranian attempts earlier Saturday to target a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer.
CENTCOM said the American vessels successfully evaded multiple attacks and that no US personnel were injured.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had warned earlier that Washington would retaliate against Iranian oil shipping if Tehran attacked American naval forces.
“If Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers,” Hegseth wrote on social media, according to the BBC.
Hormuz at center of escalation
The latest confrontation again places the Strait of Hormuz at the center of the six-month US-Iran war.
The narrow waterway was one of the world’s most important energy corridors before the war, carrying approximately 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
Iran has insisted on retaining control over navigation through the strait, while the US military has escorted commercial vessels through an alternative southern route.
Washington has maintained for months that the waterway remains open. CENTCOM said in July that its forces had facilitated the passage of approximately 900 commercial vessels carrying around 450 million barrels of crude oil since early May.
Tehran, however, has repeatedly targeted vessels using routes it does not recognize and has tied the maritime confrontation to the US blockade and attacks on Iran.
Warning of wider confrontation
The Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Saturday that further US actions could lead not only to more powerful Iranian strikes but to an expansion of the military confrontation against American forces in the region.
The warning followed several days of renewed fighting after a period of relative calm.
The US resumed major attacks on Iran earlier this week. CENTCOM said its September 1 operation struck IRGC-linked air-defense systems, radar installations, naval facilities and communications infrastructure.
The command has described its wider campaign, Operation Epic Fury, as an effort to strike Iranian military and security targets.
Iran responded with missile and drone attacks against US military positions and regional targets, including in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
The renewed fighting followed the expiration last month of a 60-day ceasefire, with no new diplomatic agreement reached.
Iranian military spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia said Friday that the difficulties facing US forces in the region were the result of Washington’s decision to attack an independent country.
He said the appropriate course for the United States was to “accept the realities, bear the costs and leave the region.”
Saturday’s warning from Khatam al-Anbiya went further, explicitly threatening American naval forces with intensified attacks if Washington’s blockade and actions against Iranian shipping continue.
(TPC, IRIB, Al Mayadeen, BBC)
