The United States struck three tankers linked to Iran on Saturday (5), after ballistic missiles were fired at two American warships in the Gulf region. The announcement came from US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees American military operations in the Middle East. Hours earlier, Iranian state media had reported explosions near Kharg Island, the terminal that normally handles about 90% of the country's crude oil exports. The Tasnim news agency said the tanker was hit by four projectiles, with no victims, as the crew evacuated the vessel.
According to Centcom, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched missiles at an aircraft carrier and a guided missile destroyer, which evaded the attacks with no injuries. American forces then said they had "permanently disabled" the tankers M/T Downy, off the coast of Kharg Island, and M/T Stark 1, near Jask, and completely destroyed the unloaded M/T Kylo in the Gulf of Oman after its crew was ordered to abandon ship. The command said the three vessels belong to a "multimillion-dollar shadow network" that finances the IRGC and its regional allies.
"Let the message to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps be clear: if you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even greater economic cost by destroying three of yours", said Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of Centcom, adding that the United States will not hesitate to "destroy Iran's limited and vulnerable oil fleet".
What it means for Brazil
For Brazil, the most immediate effect runs through oil prices. The struggle between Washington and Tehran for control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global oil supplies, has already pushed energy prices up worldwide, according to g1, and Brent, the international benchmark, closed the week near US$ 95 a barrel, after topping US$ 97 on Friday (4) in a session marked by attacks on Kuwait, as reported by Revista Empreende. The move cuts both ways in Brazil: it supports revenue from pre-salt oil exports, and it feeds into diesel and gasoline costs, since domestic fuel prices track international parity. There is a second warning for third countries: President Donald Trump has threatened harsher economic measures against any nation that does business with Tehran.
The interests at stake
Washington says it wants to cut off the IRGC's financing and keep the Strait of Hormuz open to navigation; Tehran uses the threat to the strait as its main bargaining chip. In between sit the countries that host American troops, such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, hit by Iranian retaliation this week, and Israel, which joined the first large scale strikes on Iran on February 28 alongside the US. Trump has even threatened to capture Kharg Island.
The exchanges of fire resumed early in the week, after more than a month of relative calm and the formal expiry last month of a 60 day ceasefire between the two countries. On Sunday, the US said it had hit two rocket launchers that would be used to mine the strait; on Tuesday, Trump spoke of a new "very heavy attack". The Iranian Red Crescent Society says missile shrapnel hit a wedding in Sirik, in southern Iran, killing at least four people, two of them children. Vice President JD Vance said he was "extremely skeptical" of the account, but promised an investigation; Tehran called the episode a "war crime".
On Thursday, Vance denied that the conflict should even be called a war, said there had been "no ongoing gunfire" and refused to set a timeline for its end, suggesting it is up to Iran to close out a dispute that began with joint US and Israeli air strikes six months ago. At sea, the day ended with radio warnings: audio confirmed by CNN shows a US military aircraft giving the Stark 1 crew ten minutes to clear the stern, and then the final call to board the lifeboats. "We are already destroyed", someone on board replies in one recording. According to the state broadcaster IRIB, there were no victims: the cooling system put out the fire on the tanker hit near Kharg within about an hour, and the crews of the two tankers attacked in the Gulf of Oman reached the coast in boats. Tehran did not immediately acknowledge the attacks on the American ships.