Iran launched ballistic missiles at Jordan and seized an American underwater drone near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, September 9. The retaliatory strikes followed a U.S. military operation that destroyed five Iranian oil tankers in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
Missile Barrage Hits Jordan as Regional Tensions Surge
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted facilities used for the maintenance and deployment of U.S. warplanes at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed it had targeted facilities used for the maintenance, preparation, and deployment of US F-35, F-16, and F-15 fighter jets at Al-Azraq Air Base in Jordan.
Iranian state-backed media confirmed the action, describing the missile barrage as a designated punitive operation following earlier American naval engagements, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announcing that they struck the American Al-Azraq base in Jordan with heavy missile strikes
as part of a designated punitive operation
.
Jordanian air defense systems engaged incoming projectiles from across the border. According to an official statement from the Jordan Armed Forces, the spokesperson for the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) – Arab Army said on Wednesday that the kingdom came under a missile attack from Iranian territory over the past few hours.
The Jordan News Agency Petra in Amman reported, The spokesperson explained that Jordanian air defense systems engaged 20 ballistic missiles fired toward Jordanian territory, successfully intercepting and destroying 18 of them. Two missiles fell in unpopulated areas.
Jordan conducted a field assessment and found that there were no casualties. It said it had dealt with the threat in accordance with established operational procedures to protect the kingdom’s airspace and ensure public safety,
adding that continuous monitoring, tracking, and evaluation remain underway.
American officials similarly reported that all U.S. troops stationed in Jordan were accounted for and that the strikes proved ineffective.
U.S. Destroys Oil Tankers After Warship Attacks
The exchange followed a sharp escalation at sea. The escalation follows actions by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), which confirmed that American forces targeted five Iranian tankers connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday, September 8. The action came in retaliation against repeated missile assaults directed at a U.S. Navy warship over the preceding 48 hours.
CENTCOM specified that US assets struck four crude oil carriers situated in the Gulf of Oman alongside a fifth vessel near Kharg Island inside the Persian Gulf. Officials added that the targeted US warship successfully bypassed the incoming attacks, maintained its regional patrol route, and reported zero American casualties.
On Wednesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported several vessels in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side of the strait, had been hit by disabling fire. A vessel was reported listing, possibly indicating it had taken on water after being struck by a projectile off Port Rashid in the United Arab Emirates, UKMTO said. Two Iraqi port officials said a tanker carrying 2 million barrels of fuel oil, the New Andros, had caught fire after being struck by a drone in Iraqi waters, and there were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew.
Iraq’s oil ministry said in a statement later on Wednesday that the vessel, which was used to store fuel oil and was chartered by the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company, had been struck by an unknown source, causing minor damage to its hull. The ministry confirmed there were no injuries and no leakage of its cargo into the water. Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, according to a statement carried by state media, while a maritime security source reported a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan.
Dispute Over Maritime Claims and Strait of Hormuz
The U.S. military denied that Iran struck an uncrewed American military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the claim a “total lie.” State-run media in Tehran said the U.S. vessel was trying to enter an area that Iran says is restricted in the Strait of Hormuz, but Capt. Tim Hawkins, spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command, called it “a total lie.”
A top Iranian official said Tehran plans to announce an “exclusion zone” outside the Strait of Hormuz aimed at vessels it believes are attempting to transit the waterway. Iran said it would soon release maps of a new, much larger off-limits zone at sea that would extend as far as the Arabian Gulf off Chabahar on the far reaches of Iran’s coast near Pakistan, the Guards said.
The war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. But negotiations have collapsed after a ceasefire agreement was announced in June, and on-and-off fighting has persisted with both sides trying to inflict military and economic pain. Iran’s parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said the era of proportionate responses
is over and Iran’s retaliation will be faster, heavier and more painful.
Regional Deployments and the Strait Chokepoint
Whenever tensions rise between Iran and the United States, one narrow waterway moves to the centre of global attention – the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical oil chokepoint. Both the US and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began.
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