US and Iranian forces exchanged attacks involving vessels in waters around Iran on Saturday, in a sharp escalation that threatens to further disrupt energy supplies and deepen the conflict between the two countries.

US Central Command said it struck three Iranian oil carriers, including one near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub, after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired ballistic missiles at two US Navy ships.

“If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost,” US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper said.

The IRGC warned that it would intensify attacks against US military vessels in the region. It later said it had targeted three tankers travelling on unauthorised routes through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as three US-linked vessels in other areas.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that four US missiles struck a tanker near Kharg Island. It said there were no casualties and that the crew was being evacuated.

US Central Command said no American personnel were injured.

The latest exchange follows an escalation over the past week in a conflict that began after US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. The fighting has disrupted global energy supplies and increased concerns over a wider regional confrontation.

Trump warns over Kharg Island

US President Donald Trump has continued to threaten military action against Iran, even as his administration expands economic sanctions.

On August 31, Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting Kharg Island being destroyed. Iranian authorities have warned of a strong response if the island is attacked.

Iran, the third-largest producer in OPEC, previously exported about 90% of its crude through Kharg Island. Oil flows have been disrupted since the US began a blockade of Iranian oil exports in mid-April.

Trump had previously threatened action against Kharg Island, saying in June that he wanted to take control of it before ruling out a US military operation there.

The US blockade followed Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key global energy route that previously carried about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

An Iranian tanker ‌was hit by U.S. forces on Saturday near Iran’s key oil export hub, Kharg Island, in the Gulf, the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim reported.

According to a Tasnim correspondent from ​Kharg, the tanker was hit by four U.S. missiles in the ​area of Kharg Island’s anchorage, Reuters reported.

Tasnim quoted local sources as ⁠saying there were no casualties and the tanker’s crew was being evacuated.

There ​was no immediate official announcement by Iranian authorities and U.S. Central Command did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on August 31 in a one-line social media post accompanied by an AI-generated video that Kharg Island was ​being “blown to smithereens”. Iranian authorities have vowed a strong response if Kharg ​is attacked.

Iran is the third-largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and ‌exported ⁠90% of its crude via Kharg Island before the war, but flows have been disrupted since a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil exports began in mid-April.

Trump said on June 11 that he wanted to take over Kharg Island, ​but then said ​a threatened U.S. ⁠military operation there was off the table for now, days before Tehran and Washington signed an interim agreement aimed at ending ​the war on June 17.

A U.S. attack on ​Kharg would ⁠heap further pressure on Iran’s oil industry and its wider economy, which is already reeling from the U.S. naval blockade.

The U.S. imposed its blockade on ⁠Iranian ports ​after Iran effectively shut the Strait of ​Hormuz, a key waterway that carried one-fifth of the world’s oil supply before the war.

Syria has begun destroying remnants of a clandestine chemical weapons programme dating from the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad, which were recovered in May, a Syrian envoy and a United Nations representative said on Thursday.

The destruction marks the first such operation in Syria in a decade. Reuters reported in May that Syria’s new leadership had discovered remnants of Assad’s chemical weapons programme, including raw materials and munitions similar to those used in deadly gas attacks during the country’s civil war.

Izumi Nakamitsu, the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the Security Council that, for the first time since 2014, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had verified the destruction of chemical munitions in Syria.

Following the May discovery, Syrian authorities identified an additional chemical weapons production facility, a previously unknown chemical used in the production of nerve agents and empty chemical munitions, Nakamitsu said.

Syria also declared two chemical weapons storage facilities where the newly discovered materials had been stored, she added.

Last month, the OPCW deployed a team to Syria to verify the destruction of category-three chemical weapons, which include unfilled munitions and other equipment used to release chemical agents. The team verified the “irreversible destruction of 42 aerial bombs”, Nakamitsu said.

Syria’s ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Olabi, told the council that the country’s efforts were aimed at “protecting the world and the region”.

However, Olabi strongly criticised Israel, saying repeated Israeli attacks had disrupted some search-and-destruction operations and exposed Syrian teams involved in the work to danger.

“We cannot safeguard the security of the region if our security is exposed to attacks at the hands of Israel,” Olabi said, accusing Israel of undermining regional security and violating international conventions and treaties.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Olabi also said Syria was preparing to hold the first court hearing for people suspected of involvement in the chemical weapons programme.

Syrian authorities earlier this year detained 18 suspects over alleged involvement in Assad’s chemical weapons programme, including senior military, political and technical officials.