US Central Command has given its fullest account yet of Saturday's strikes on three Iranian oil tankers, and the framing is escalation rather than a one-off.

Per the AP report, CENTCOM said a US aircraft carrier and a destroyer evaded "multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks" while patrolling in the region, with no US personnel hurt, and that the tanker strikes followed [1]. Two Iranian oil carriers were described as "permanently disabled" and a third, unladen, as destroyed. CENTCOM said the vessels belonged to a shadow network helping fund the Revolutionary Guard and its regional proxies, and released what it called video footage of the strikes [1].

The new element is the stated trigger. Earlier coverage of the operation rested on CENTCOM naming the three tankers; this account ties the strikes directly to missiles aimed at US Navy warships, and adds an explicit threat from CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper: "We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran's limited and exposed oil fleet" [1].

It also resolves one open question. Iranian state media had reported four US missiles hitting a tanker about 10 km off Kharg Island on Friday morning, with no US confirmation. CENTCOM now says one tanker was struck off Kharg, another near Jask east of the strait, and the unladen one in the Gulf of Oman [1]. That is Washington's first on-record confirmation of a Kharg-area tanker strike, though the vessel remains unnamed and casualty details are still absent.

On the corridor itself, AP notes the US military has been helping guide ships through the strait as Tehran asserts control and targets some vessels, but that overall traffic remains low [1]. The strikes came a day after President Trump characterised the conflict as "small potatoes," and follow the collapse of negotiations that began with a mid-June memorandum of understanding [1].

Caveats: the missile attacks on the US warships are CENTCOM's characterisation, not independently verified in this report, and "permanently disabled" is a US assessment of damage.