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# Five Tankers. The War Is Back.
- URL: https://www.diplopolis.com/five-tankers-war-is-back-iran-oil-tankers-jordan-september-2026/
- Published: 2026-09-10T04:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T16:45:38.000Z
- Description: US forces destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on September 8: Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco, Derya. Iran hit Jordan with 18 missiles. All intercepted. Their names are the only specific facts neither side disputes.
- Author: Sunny Peter
- Tags: The Ledger, Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco, Derya, Jordan, IRGC, US Central Command, Iran, US War on Iran, United States

Their names are on the record: Kaviz, Charminar, Horizon 1, Riesco, Derya. Five Iranian oil tankers. [Struck and destroyed by US Central Command on Tuesday September 8](https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/08/world/live-news/iran-war-trump?ref=diplopolis.com) in response to attacks on a US warship by the IRGC over the preceding two days. The crews were told to abandon ship before the strikes. US Central Command said the warship had 'successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed.' The tankers no longer exist.

Iran's retaliation arrived that same evening. Missiles launched toward US targets in Jordan. Jordan's military intercepted 18 ballistic missiles; two others fell in unpopulated areas. No casualties. Jordan is a staunch US ally that has hosted American forces for decades. It has been targeted repeatedly in the Iran war — specifically because of that hosting, which Iran has described as making Jordan complicit in American attacks. Jordan intercepts the missiles. Iran launches more. The cycle continues.

This was not the first tanker strike of the September cycle. US forces had already disabled three Iranian vessels on September 5 — reported at the time as a response to Iranian attacks on two US Navy warships over the preceding days. The September 8 strikes are the second tanker operation, and the more extensive. Five vessels destroyed in one operation is the largest single day of Iranian tanker losses since the war began on February 28\. The IRGC's response: a warning that oil tankers in the areas around Kuwait and Bahrain's ports should evacuate immediately. A maritime restricted zone extending from Chabahar into the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea was announced. The war is not contracting. It is expanding its geography.

Iran also captured a US underwater drone at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on the same day, broadcasting footage on state television. CENTCOM's spokesman said all IRGC attempts against US Navy warships had failed — 'that's fact, not rhetoric.' Both statements are true in their own registers. The warship survived. The drone was captured. Five tankers are destroyed. Iran struck 18 missiles into Jordan. The Tumen River bridge opened Monday. The Sirik funeral was Thursday. The war is running across multiple fronts simultaneously and the accounting has become too large for any single day's reporting to contain.

DiploPolis has been covering this arc since 'Bombed. Now Billing.' in May — the piece that documented Iran's toll booth on the Strait and argued that the bombing had not broken Iran's leverage over the waterway but formalised it. The five tanker names on September 8 are the latest entry in the same ledger. Kaviz. Charminar. Horizon 1\. Riesco. Derya. Five vessels. Five crews ordered to abandon ship. Five points of fire on the water. The Strait that was supposed to be opened by the war remains contested. The vessels destroyed are Iranian. The water they sailed is still not resolved.

The war is in its 195th day. Five tankers were named on Tuesday. Their names are the only specific facts that cannot be disputed by either side.