Iran threatens US bases as tanker attacks intensify around Strait of Hormuz

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened Thursday to strike US bases across the Middle East if the American military continues escorting commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, as attacks on vessels in and around the strategic waterway intensified.

“The US military must know that if this trend continues, the conflict will extend to its bases in the region,” the Guards said in a statement reported by AFP. Iranian forces said four ships were hit overnight while attempting to cross the wider Gulf. The Associated Press reported that Iran said seven oil tankers were burning or damaged in the strait.

Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran recently changed the type and pace of its attacks to frustrate US-led efforts to reduce oil prices. An anonymous US military official told Reuters that the Revolutionary Guards had begun using unarmed spotters in small boats to identify targets after much of Iran’s radar capability was destroyed.

Despite the attacks, non-Iranian Middle East oil exports averaged more than 24.5 million barrels per day in the week through October 18, slightly above prewar levels, according to preliminary Kpler data cited by The National. Those flows include alternative export routes as well as Hormuz transits. About 19 commodity vessels were crossing the strait daily, compared with more than 100 before the war.

The International Maritime Organization recorded 116 attacks on ships and 24 deaths between the conflict’s start in February and October 20, The National reported.