US Defense Secretary: We will sink Iranian oil tankers if they repeat attacks on our naval vessels

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened to destroy Iranian oil tankers if Tehran repeated attempts to target U.S. naval vessels near the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth made the statement in a post on his official account on the social media platform X, following the U.S. Central Command’s (CENTCOM) announcement that it had targeted three Iranian oil tankers. “It’s simple: if Iran fires on U.S. ships, we will destroy and sink their oil tankers,” he wrote. He added that “all they have to do is stop firing on the U.S. Navy.” The U.S. Defense Secretary emphasized that “the Iranian oil tanker fleet is defenseless and unprotected,” and that “Iran lacks the capability or naval and air forces to protect its oil fleet,” warning that the U.S. Navy and Air Force are capable of “striking them all.”