WASHINGTON, SEP 9: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would continue to target Iranian tankers in retaliatory strikes on Tuesday, as US authorities said five vessels had already been hit.

“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,” he told reporters on a visit to Colombia.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that its forces “destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days.”

“The US warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed,” CENTCOM said in a statement.