WASHINGTON — U.S. forces have struck multiple Iranian tankers tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in response to attempted missile attacks on a U.S. warship, a U.S. official said.

While the missiles didn’t hit the U.S. vessel, the attacks prompted the U.S. military on Tuesday to strike targets near the strategically crucial oil export hub of Kharg Island and the port city of Jask, spooking energy markets and raising fears of dramatic new escalation in the Iran war.

The tit-for-tat strikes underscored the difficulty of the U.S. attempt to pivot from active hostilities to a sustained campaign of economic pressure against Tehran. President Donald Trump and defense officials have repeatedly said Iran’s military was effectively incapacitated, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently said the pressure campaign “means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart.”

The Wall Street Journal first reported Monday’s attack on the American ship. A Fox News reporter, citing unnamed senior U.S. officials, said in a post on X that the U.S. targets on Tuesday included Iranian oil tankers and characterized it as part of a broader effort to force Tehran to capitulate.

The Iran war, which the U.S. launched on Feb. 28 and justified mainly as an attempt to curtail Iran’s nuclear weapons program, has more recently focused on getting Tehran to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz as an international waterway. The U.S. Navy is blockading any ships loaded with Iranian crude and Iran has shot missiles at international ships trying to exit the Persian Gulf. One-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transited the strait before the war.

Brent crude settled around $98 and kept climbing after reports claimed explosions had been heard from the anchorage area of Kharg. Iran’s main oil export hub, the island lies about 15 miles (24 kilometers) off the mainland and is the loading point for around 90% of the country’s crude shipments.

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Trump has repeatedly said Iran’s military has been decimated to the point where it is unable to attack American assets. The administration announced in August it would focus on squeezing Iran economically and slow the military offensive, but tit-for-tat strikes resumed. On Tuesday, the Treasury Department sanctioned dozens of firms that support Iran’s aviation sector

Earlier, a report from Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said a U.S. missile had hit an Iranian tanker off the coast of Kharg.

All tanker crews in the vicinity of Kuwaiti and Bahraini piers should “immediately abandon their vessels, whether at anchor or docked, as they will be targeted,” Iran’s state TV reported, citing an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps statement.

Iran also claimed on Tuesday that it had captured a state-of-the-art underwater drone that the U.S. dismissed as “defective and malfunctioning.”

Iran is in talks with Oman regarding a deal to open up the waterway to traffic, but the two countries are likely to impose a fee on vessels. The U.S. and its allies oppose any charge on the once-free international waterway.

Reports of explosions near Kharg on Tuesday fueled a rise in oil prices. The island holds outsized importance in the conflict because of its crucial role in Iran’s energy infrastructure.

U.S. strikes on the island have focused on attacking military assets, but Trump has previously threatened to target oil facilities and at times floated even seizing the export hub.

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With assistance from Jen Judson and Arsalan Shahla.

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