WASHINGTON / TEHRAN: The United States and Iran traded fire in the Gulf on Wednesday as US forces destroyed 10 Iranian oil tankers in a bid to cripple the Revolutionary Guards' illicit funding network, and Iran's military responded by launching missile strikes against two American destroyers, eight tankers and 10 other ships attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to all sides to exercise utmost restraint and avoid inflaming the already volatile situation in and near the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump on Wednesday predicted that the war with Iran will end immediately after the US midterm elections in November.

US Central Command (Centcom) said in a statement that US forces had destroyed 10 Iranian oil tankers over the past week as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network financing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Centcom also dismissed claims by the IRGC that it had targeted two US Navy destroyers in the Middle East as completely false. Washington recently announced a robust policy of targeting Iranian tankers in retaliation for any hostile fire threatening its warships in the region.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia that Iran continues to attempt strikes on US naval assets and will lose tankers every time it engages in such acts. Meanwhile, the IRGC announced that its aerospace and naval forces successfully struck multiple vessels in the restricted zones of the Strait of Hormuz and warned of severe retaliatory actions if Western aggressions continue unabated.

Regional tensions further spiked as the IRGC reported launching ballistic missile strikes against a base used by US forces near Al Azraq in eastern Jordan, though Jordanian air defenses successfully intercepted the majority of the incoming projectiles. Senior Iranian officials reiterated that Tehran remains fully prepared to alter regional strategic dynamics should foreign miscalculations persist.