A U.S. airstrike near Kharg Island, the center of Iran's crude oil exports, and Jask hit an Iranian oil tanker.
A Donald Trump administration official said to Fox News on the 8th (local time) that U.S. Central Command carried out strikes near Kharg Island and Jask, and that the targets included an oil tanker.
Iran's Tasnim news agency also reported that night that a small oil tanker about 4 nautical miles (about 7.4 kilometers) off Kharg Island was hit by a U.S. missile strike. The tanker was understood to have been struck by a projectile fired by U.S. forces near the Kharg Island anchorage.
A local source said, "Fortunately, there were no casualties, and the crew are being evacuated." Iranian authorities plan to announce details after investigating the exact scale of the damage and the circumstances of the incident.
Earlier, Iran's Mehr news agency reported hearing multiple explosions on Kharg Island. Explosions were also reported in Jask, a port city in southern Hormozgan province.
Kharg Island hosts key facilities that handle most of Iran's crude oil export volumes. Recently, local reports have repeatedly said unexplained explosions were heard.
Jask, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is also a major hub for exporting Iranian crude through pipelines.
The U.S. military's simultaneous attacks on a tanker near Kharg Island and on Jask are seen as an attempt to block Iran's oil export routes and intensify economic pressure.
A U.S. official told Fox News that the strikes were "a larger effort to economically pressure Iran," adding that the attack on the tanker was "part of a pressure operation" targeting Iran, which is highly dependent on oil exports.