Iran hits ships near Hormuz in retaliation for U.S. attacks on tankers — SkimNews
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- Iran attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers — the biggest wave of shipping strikes by both sides in the six-month war — killing at least one seafarer aboard the Hercules Star off Dubai with another missing.
- Brent crude futures breached $100 a barrel for the first time since July 24, while US diesel hit a record above $5.94 a gallon; Iran also fired ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan, where 18 were intercepted and two fell harmlessly in unpopulated areas.
- Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps warned of sharp escalation and said it would release maps of an enlarged off-limits maritime zone extending as far as Chabahar on the Pakistan coast.
- President Trump said Tehran was trying to influence the November midterm elections, telling reporters "war is going to end immediately after the election"; the Wall Street Journal reported JD Vance and Marco Rubio have privately warned him the conflict could extend through January 2029.
- Secretary Rubio outlined Washington's retaliation policy — "for every time they try to hit US naval ships, they're going to lose tankers" — with the US reporting 10 tankers hit over the past week.
- Strait of Hormuz oil flows collapsed to 2 million barrels per day from 8–9 million bpd in the week before Aug. 30, per Rystad Energy's chief economist, as the New Andros tanker (2 million barrels of fuel oil) caught fire after a drone strike in Iraqi waters and an LNG tanker was damaged in Khor Fakkan, UAE.
Why it matters: Hormuz throughput has fallen roughly 75% — from 8–9 million bpd before Aug. 30 to 2 million bpd now — while Brent broke $100 and US diesel set a record above $5.94, costs now hitting US consumers directly. Both sides publicly codified escalation rules (Rubio's tanker-for-tanker policy; Iran's enlarged exclusion zone to Chabahar), and Trump is openly framing the war as a midterm issue even as his own advisers privately warn it could run through January 2029.
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