{"id":45118,"date":"2026-09-10T09:20:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=45118"},"modified":"2026-09-10T09:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T07:23:02","slug":"iran-us-hit-tankers-in-biggest-wave-of-attacks-on-shipping","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/iran-us-hit-tankers-in-biggest-wave-of-attacks-on-shipping\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran, US hit tankers in biggest wave of attacks on shipping"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Iran says it attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the United States (US) sank five Iranian oil tankers, \u200cin the biggest wave of attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.<\/span><\/div>\n<div id=\"ms-outlook-mobile-signature\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The incidents follow a month of relative calm, during which the US has sought to pressure Iran through economic means.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Iran said it had fired ballistic missiles at a US military base in \u200bJordan. Jordan said it intercepted 18 missiles, with the remaining two falling harmlessly in unpopulated areas. An American official said all American troops were accounted for.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would \u200bsharply escalate its response to any further attacks, and said Iran would soon release maps of a new, enlarged off-limits zone at sea that would extend \u2060as far as Chabahar on the coast near Pakistan.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>President Donald Trump said Tehran was trying to influence the November US midterm elections, which will determine whether his Republican Party retains control of Congress.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI think war \u200bis going to end immediately after the election because they can\u2019t hold out any longer. They\u2019re desperate to try and affect the election,\u201d he told reporters.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The Wall Street Journal reported later on Wednesday that top White \u200bHouse advisers, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned Trump that the conflict could extend through the remainder of his presidency, which ends in January 2029.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div><i>Reuters<\/i> could not immediately verify the report.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>In recent days, there has also been an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, a second theatre of war that threatens global energy supplies from the Middle East.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u2014Reuters\u2014<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22107,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[78,44],"class_list":["post-45118","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.","published_date":"","news_description":"At least one seafarer aboard a tanker was reported killed and another listed as missing.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45119,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/45118\/revisions\/45119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=45118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}