West Asia conflict LIVE: Iran to target oil tankers in Kuwait and Bahrain in response to U.S. attack, IRGC says — SkimNews
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- Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) announced early Wednesday September 9, 2026, that ships in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports hosting American forces would be targeted in retaliation for US attacks on Iranian oil tankers.
- Tasnim news agency reported September 8, 2026, that a US missile struck a small Iranian tanker four miles off Kharg Island, with no casualties; the agency identified the projectile as launched by 'American terrorist army' forces in the anchorage area.
- Iranian Armed Forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi warned on Tuesday that Tehran would strike US bases across the region if Iranian oil tankers were hit again.
- Iran said its forces captured an American unmanned underwater drone in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, framing the seizure as a counter-escalation.
- US Central Command spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins said the underwater drone 'malfunctioned' more than a day prior while surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations, declining to confirm whether Iran had seized it.
Why it matters: Iran is broadening its retaliation threat beyond its own coastline and the Strait of Hormuz to two additional Gulf states hosting US forces, putting commercial oil infrastructure in Kuwait and Bahrain directly in the crosshairs. The competing US and Iranian narratives over the captured drone — Tehran claiming a seizure, the US calling it a 'malfunction' — signal that the tit-for-tat is now expanding across multiple flashpoints simultaneously.
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