US forces destroyed 5 Iranian tankers after IRGC attacks on US Navy warship: CENTCOM

US forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Tuesday.

"The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed," it said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier Tuesday that Iran would continue to lose tankers for every attempt it makes to strike US naval vessels.

"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," Rubio told reporters during his visit to Colombia.

Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that a tanker was struck near Kharg Island's anchorage area, with no casualties reported and the crew evacuated.

The state broadcaster IRIB separately reported that two oil tankers were attacked near the port of Jask, with their crews evacuated to shore by lifeboat.

The developments came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the US over the Strait of Hormuz, despite the signing of a memorandum in June that envisioned a deal to reopen the strategic waterway as a prelude to a wider peace deal.