USA and Iran exchanged attacks on ships on Saturday, in the latest round of attacks by when the fighting broke out a week ago after a month of relative calm.
American the military said it had "permanently disabled" two oil tankers linked to Iran, including one near Kharg Island, and "totally destroyed" a third in the Gulf of Oman, the BBC reported.
Iranian state media confirmed the strikes and said Tehran responded by attacking three US-linked ships as well as three oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on an "unauthorized" route.
The strikes come a day after the president Donald tramp dismissed the conflict as "trifles", with little apparent progress towards ending the six-month war.
News of Iran's latest retaliation came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media: "It's simple: If Iran fires at American ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers."
According to US Central Command (Centcom), two US warships were targeted by Iran before the US attack on three oil tankers linked to Iran.
Centcom said it "successfully evaded" multiple attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) earlier in the day, which targeted a US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer. No American soldiers were injured, it said.
Centcom, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East, claimed the three Iranian oil tankers it hit were "part of a shadowy billionaire network that finances the IRGC and its regional proxies".
Iran's state-run Irib media reported that there were no casualties in Saturday's US attack on a tanker near Harg Island.
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