US forces destroy 3 Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island and Gulf of Oman: ‘You have 3 minutes’

Take that you POS!

US forces destroy 3 Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island and Gulf of Oman: ‘You have 3 minutes’

By Gabrielle Fahmy, NY Post

Published Sep. 5, 2026

The United States military destroyed three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps crude oil tankers in the Persian Gulf Saturday – after Iran launched ballistic missiles at two US Navy vessels.

Footage shows large tankers blown up in flames, as a thick plume of black smoke rise off the sea.

A US military aircraft crew can be heard over radio warning an oil tanker near Kharg Island, before unleashing a barrage of missiles that lit the vessel in flames.

“I’m preparing to fire. …You have three minutes to clear the crew,” the US is heard in a video filmed aboard a nearby vessel, obtained by Iran International.

Crew members can be heard speaking in Persian and Urdu, and asking whether the ship’s captain was at his post — before realizing he was still asleep.

“This was your final warning,” the US crew says before firing at the tanker, which was first sanctioned by Washington in 2018. “Get into your lifeboats and abandon the ship immediately.”

US Central Command said the strikes were in retaliation for the IRGC launching ballistic missiles at two US Navy warships patrolling regional waters as attacks in the region have intensified after an Aug. 17 cease-fire deadline failed to produce a peace agreement.

“The three Iranian crude oil tankers are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies,” according to CENTCOM.

Two of the struck ships were in the Gulf of Oman, and the third was anchored off Kharg Island — Iran’s key export hub through which 90% of its crude exports flowed before the war.

“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,” added Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander.

The IRGC Navy later claimed it struck three US-linked vessels in retaliation — in addition to three oil tankers traveling in the Strait of Hormuz — and threatened more “severe” military action.

“If the hostility, insecurity and harassment of Iranian ships and the naval blockade of Iran continue, the strikes by the armed forces of the Islamic Republic against US military vessels in the region will be more severe than before,” said military spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari, according to state media.

“And there is also the possibility of their expansion.”

The IRGC threatened to continue to batter boats traveling through Hormuz unless the US removed its naval blockade.

“Do not fall for the deception of the terrorist American army and avoid any suspicious movements to cross unauthorized waterways — otherwise, you will be targeted,” the IRGC vowed.

Earlier Saturday, Tehran reported four missiles struck one of its oil tankers anchored six miles from the island, according to state media Tasnim.

“It’s simple: if Iran shoots at US ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wrote on X. “All they have to do is not shoot at US Navy.”

The strikes come amid an escalation in fighting over the past week that threaten to deepen the conflict — and the attacks near Kharg Island are especially significant given repeated threats to target the strategic oil hub.

President Trump posted on Truth Social last week that Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens,” along with an AI-generated image showing oil storage tanks and refineries erupting in flames, and Iran has vowed a strong response if Tehran’s critical islanld infrastructure was attacked.

The first US strike on Kharg Island in March — which hit roughly 90 Iranian military targets while deliberately sparing the oil infrastructure itself — was a major escalation in the United States and Israel’s joint military operation against the Iranian regime.