US Strikes Iranian Tankers in First Under 'Tanker-for-Tanker' Policy

The United States struck Iranian government tankers for the first time under a newly approved tanker-for-tanker policy, hitting about 100 targets as Iran's retaliation was largely intercepted.

According to investingLive, citing Axios, US forces struck two Iranian government tankers for the first time on Tuesday under a newly approved "tanker-for-tanker" policy personally authorized by President Trump. The anchored tankers, positioned off Iran's coast north of the US naval blockade line, were hit in their engine rooms by missiles launched from US drones. The action was explicitly retaliatory, a shift US officials described as significant, and Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reported the strikes on 'Special Report' as part of Washington's escalating pressure campaign.

Roughly 100 targets were hit across Tuesday's strikes, per investingLive's report, including IRGC air defense sites, radar systems, mine-laying capabilities, communications infrastructure, anti-ship cruise missile launchers and attack drone launchers. Iran's retaliation largely failed: of about 25 ballistic missiles fired, only around half reached Jordanian airspace, while drone waves aimed at US bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Erbil were mostly intercepted. Fox News framed the exchange as a retaliatory attack amid the broader confrontation, and neither outlet reported any commercial vessel being hit.

The tanker-for-tanker policy marks a first in the conflict's rules of engagement, introducing a direct retaliatory mechanism tied specifically to attacks on shipping. Unlike earlier strikes meant to enforce the naval blockade, Tuesday's action punished Iran by destroying its own vessels. A disputed civilian casualty claim adds friction: Iranian state media reported a US strike hit a wedding in Kuhestak, killing at least four and wounding 35, which investingLive notes CENTCOM spokesman Captain Tim Hawkins disputed, saying the US military never targets civilians.

A US official told investingLive's report that the strikes degraded Iran's capabilities and bought at least a month of lowered threat levels for commercial shipping, with roughly 40 vessels — carrying millions of barrels of oil — transiting the Strait of Hormuz on the day of the strikes. The same official argued Iran has lost control of both the strait and the wider conflict. The coming days will test whether the tanker-for-tanker policy succeeds in altering Iran's calculus, which last month included vows of a 'prohibited zone' near Hormuz, and whether oil markets price in the claimed reduction in supply risk.