Iran has vowed revenge after the US sunk by a torpedo an Iranian warship.

07:42, Thu, Mar 5, 2026 Updated: 08:03, Thu, Mar 5, 2026

Smoke rising over Iran

Iran has claimed to have hit a US oil tanker (Image: Getty)

A US oil tanker has been struck and is on fire, Iranian state media has claimed. The Tasnim news outlet reports the oil tanker was travelling in the northern Persian Gulf when it was hit by the IRGC Navy.

The state news outlet didn't provide any evidence of the strike, and the US hasn't yet commented on this. In a post on the social media platform Telegram, Tasnim also reported a direct threat to Israel, branded "Zionist regime" and Europe, plunging the world deepest into fears the conflict started on Saturday will spread further across the world. The threat read: "Everyone must comply with this, and we had warned that military and commercial vessels belonging to the US, the Zionist regime, European countries, and their supporters will not be allowed to pass and will surely be targeted if detected, by the grace of God."

According to the reports, the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that the 19th phase of its “True Promise 4” campaign began this morning with coordinated missile and drone strikes on US and Israeli positions, according to state media.

The Guards said they had hit a US oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf, claiming it was burning after the attack, and warned that in wartime Iran would assert control over passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC said: "If they are observed, they will certainly be hit. We had previously said that, based on international laws and resolutions, in times of war, the Islamic Republic of Iran will have the right to control the passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Iran’s Tasnim News reports.

Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi cautioned that the US “will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set” following the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US submarine the previous day.

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The Iranian army also reported launching long‑range Arash drones toward Israel overnight, targeting fuel facilities at the Ramat David Airbase. Israel, meanwhile, reported multiple incoming missile alerts, with sirens sounding in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.