World News

Iran fires 20 ballistic missiles at Jordan and claims strikes on two American destroyers after Central Command destroys five tankers

By Staff Writer  |  9 September 2026

Jordan's armed forces said 18 of 20 ballistic missiles launched from Iran towards the kingdom in the early hours of Wednesday were intercepted and two fell in unpopulated areas with no casualties. The Revolutionary Guard said it had struck the Al Azraq air base, two United States destroyers and eight tankers. Central Command had destroyed five Iranian crude carriers on Tuesday after a US warship was targeted twice in two days.

The sequence began with the United States. Central Command said in a release dated 8 September that its forces had destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over two days. It named the vessels: the Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1 and Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and the Derya near Kharg Island. American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable, the release said, and the warship evaded both attempted attacks and continued to patrol. No American personnel were harmed. Central Command said it had destroyed three Iranian crude carriers on 5 September on the same grounds.

Marco Rubio, the United States Secretary of State, speaking to reporters in Colombia on Tuesday, said the pattern would continue.

Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they're going to lose tankers, and I think you'll see that again today.

Marco Rubio, United States Secretary of State

Jordan's account

Iran's answer came in the early hours of Wednesday. Jordan's armed forces said the kingdom had come under a missile attack originating from Iranian territory, that its air defence systems engaged 20 ballistic missiles launched towards Jordanian territory, that 18 of them were intercepted and destroyed, and that two fell in unpopulated areas. No casualties were recorded, the statement said.

The Revolutionary Guard said its missiles had hit maintenance, preparation and deployment hangars and fighter-jet shelters at Al Azraq air base used by American F-35, F-16 and F-15 aircraft, and that the facilities suffered heavy damage. Jordan's statement does not say what, if anything, was hit. The United States had not commented on the base when the reports were published.

The Guard's other claims

In separate statements carried by Iranian state media, the Guard said it had fired ballistic missiles at two US destroyers at sea, which it named as the USS Delbert D Black and the USS John Paul Jones, and claimed heavy damage to both. It also said it had targeted two US vessels, eight oil tankers and ten other ships for crossing a zone it had declared unsafe around the Strait of Hormuz, accusing the ten of attempting the passage with support from US forces. It did not identify the vessels or provide evidence, and the US military had not commented on any of those claims by the time of writing. Iranian media said the Guard's naval forces retained what they called full management of the strait and would continue to monitor and control it.

The Guard also repeated its Tuesday warning to tanker crews at anchor or berthed at the ports of Kuwait and Bahrain to leave their vessels, saying they would be targeted, and tied that warning to the presence of American forces in both countries. Neither government had responded when the reports were published. In Saudi Arabia, an alert of an incoming attack was sounded in Khamis Mushait on Wednesday morning and the authorities later gave the all clear; the Houthis, who have attacked the south-west of the kingdom repeatedly in recent weeks, did not immediately claim it.

Where it leaves the strait and the price

Brent crude rose to 99.46 dollars a barrel in Asian morning trade and West Texas Intermediate to 94.45 dollars. Iran has asserted control of the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas, since the war began in February, and requires vessels to obtain permission and pay a transit fee; traffic through the waterway is close to a standstill. A ceasefire agreed in April broke down in July; talks on reopening the strait have not produced an agreement, and the exchange of Tuesday and Wednesday is the most direct since the August strikes.

Every figure above is the figure of the authority that issued it. The tanker names and the account of the crews being ordered off are Central Command's. The missile count and the interception figure are Jordan's. The claims of damage at Al Azraq, to the two destroyers and to the eighteen ships in the strait are the Revolutionary Guard's, and none had been confirmed by anyone else when this was written.