US Launches "Tanker for Tanker" Strategy Against Iran, Strikes Nearly 100 Military Targets

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The United States announced a new strategy for confronting Iran in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, September 2, 2026, declaring a policy of striking an Iranian oil tanker in response to every Iranian attack on a commercial vessel, after US forces targeted two Iranian tankers and approximately 100 military installations in the most comprehensive single round of American strikes since the conflict began.

US officials confirmed that President Donald Trump has approved the new policy, named "Tanker for Tanker," with the explicit objective of deterring Tehran from continuing to attack commercial shipping by imposing direct and immediate costs on Iranian oil infrastructure. Under the strategy, the United States will target an Iranian oil tanker for every vessel attacked by Iran in the region.

In the first implementation of the policy, American drones struck the engine rooms of two Iranian oil tankers off Iran's coastline, disabling rather than sinking the vessels in what appeared to be a deliberately calibrated message designed to demonstrate the policy's consequences without triggering full escalation.

CENTCOM confirmed that the broader package of strikes covered approximately 100 military targets, including IRGC bases, naval installations, air defense systems and radars, cruise missile and drone launch platforms, mine-laying capabilities, and communications centers. Washington stated that the strikes have significantly degraded Iran's offensive capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz and reduced the threat level for a period of approximately one month.

Despite the ongoing tensions, the US military confirmed it continues to escort commercial vessels through the strait, announcing that 40 ships safely transited the waterway on Tuesday after American forces shot down several Iranian missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that sought to intercept the convoy.

In response to the American strikes, Iran launched ballistic missiles and drones targeting US positions in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Iraq, expanding the geographic scope of the exchange beyond the strait itself and into the broader network of American military installations across the region that Iran has consistently identified as legitimate targets for retaliation.

The "Tanker for Tanker" policy represents a significant escalation in Washington's approach to the Hormuz standoff, moving from a defensive posture of escorting commercial ships to an explicitly retaliatory framework that imposes direct economic costs on Iran's oil infrastructure each time Tehran attacks international shipping. The policy's logic is that by making Iranian tankers the price of every commercial vessel attack, Washington can deter Iranian aggression without committing to a broader military campaign that would risk full-scale renewed hostilities.

The near-100-target strike package that accompanied the policy's announcement is the most comprehensive single American military operation against Iranian assets since the intensive strikes of Operation Epic Fury that preceded the June 17 MOU. Its scope, covering air defenses, radar systems, missile launch platforms, mine-laying capabilities, and communications infrastructure, suggests Washington is attempting to systematically dismantle the capabilities Iran would use to threaten Hormuz shipping rather than simply responding to individual incidents.

As Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared on Wednesday morning, Iran's economic collapse is now only a matter of time, with Tehran having lost all access to the US dollar. The "Tanker for Tanker" policy places the oil tankers that carry Iran's remaining crude exports directly in the crosshairs of that economic pressure campaign, creating a direct link between Iranian military aggression and the destruction of the economic assets Washington is simultaneously trying to deny Tehran through sanctions.