As tensions have risen in the Strait of Hormuz dispute, the situation in West Asia remains tense as Iran has carried out an attack on U.S. positions in Jordan.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, which had vowed to retaliate for U.S. attacks on Iranian oil vessels near Kharg Island and Jask, carried out a severe attack on U.S. military bases in Jordan, Iranian state media reported on Wednesday.
Following the second attack on a U.S. warship with ballistic missiles within the past week, U.S. forces carried out strikes on five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday; Tehran’s bombing attack was launched in retaliation for this.
Six months into the war, the United States and Iran remain in something of a stalemate; Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical route for oil and gas transport, while the United States is intensifying measures to cripple Iran’s ports and economy.
In retaliation for attacks on its oil tankers, just minutes after the Islamic Republic announced that it would attack oil tankers near Kuwait and Bahrain, which are U.S. allies, reports have emerged that Iran’s most powerful military branch, the Revolutionary Guard, carried out a missile attack on the Al-Azraq U.S. Air Force base in Jordan.
The Iranian news agency said that the attack damaged maintenance and repair facilities, hardened shelters, and hangars for fighter jets.
Jordan’s military has said it shot down 18 Iranian missiles launched toward Jordan.
These attacks were carried out only after Tehran urged the crews of oil tankers near Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their ships; Iran had issued a statement saying the Revolutionary Guard had warned that the ships would come under “attack.”
This latest tension arose following the United States’ destruction of five Iranian oil tankers; the U.S. military had said it had instructed the crews to leave the ships before attacking them.
“Iran continues to try to attack U.S. Navy ships, and every time they do that or try to do that, they end up losing oil tankers, and I think you’ll see that again today,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was visiting Colombia, told reporters on Tuesday.
Iranian media reported on Tuesday that a U.S. missile struck an oil tanker off the coast of Kharg Island, and that there were no casualties.
Iranian military chief Ali Abdollahi had warned that if Iranian oil tankers were attacked, the Islamic Republic would strike U.S. positions in the region.
Oil prices rise
Global oil prices rose to around $100 a barrel on Wednesday amid fears that war-related incidents could further disrupt supplies from the oil-rich Middle East.
The price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose to $99.38 a barrel, while the main U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, stood at $94.51 a barrel.
Since the war began in February, Iran has largely kept control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas passes. As a result, traffic through that waterway has been nearly paralyzed.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Tuesday that it had seized one of the most advanced unmanned American submarine drones in the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. military said the drone had malfunctioned and was an "old model" that did not contain any important data.
Furthermore, the Iranian government said that the Revolutionary Guard forces carried out an attack on two American warships using ballistic missiles.
The US military did not immediately comment on this report.
Since Iran has attacked US positions in Jordan, a tense situation continues to prevail in West Asia.