US military destroys five Iranian oil tankers, Iran hits Jordan base and 10 ships in retaliation

The US military struck and destroyed five Iranian oil tankers after Iran's IRGC targeted a US warship twice within two days near the Strait of Hormuz. Iran retaliated by firing missiles at the US-linked Al-Azraq airbase in Jordan and claimed its naval forces attacked two American vessels and eight tankers in the region, saying the strikes caused 'great damage.'

Why this matters. The tit-for-tat tanker and base strikes mark a sharp escalation in the months-long US-Iran conflict over the Strait of Hormuz, raising the risk of a wider disruption to Gulf oil shipping and drawing US regional allies like Jordan directly into the fighting.