September 5 – 9, 2026 · Persian Gulf — Strait of Hormuz, Kharg Island, Jask Theater
September 5 – 9, 2026
After a month-long lull, the IRGC fired ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier and destroyer in the Gulf; both evaded and no Americans were hurt. CENTCOM answered on September 5 by disabling the IRGC-linked crude carriers M/T Downy off Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask and destroying the empty tanker M/T Kylo in the Gulf of Oman, describing them as part of a shadow network funding the IRGC and its proxies. When the IRGC twice more targeted a US warship, CENTCOM destroyed five more Iranian crude carriers on September 8 — four in the Gulf of Oman and one near Kharg — after telling their crews to abandon ship. Iran's Foreign Ministry called the strikes a war crime. The IRGC fired about twenty ballistic missiles at Jordan, saying it was targeting Muwaffaq Salti Air Base; Jordan's army said it destroyed eighteen and the other two fell in unpopulated areas, with no casualties. The IRGC Navy then warned the crews of tankers near Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports to abandon their ships.
Commanders