IRAN FIRES ON A CARRIER STRIKE GROUP, US SINKS THREE TANKERS, BOTH SIDES ESCALATE THE TARGET SET

The IRGC fired ballistic missiles at a US aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer it says were participating in the naval blockade 6TSN IRGC Strikes US Warships, Tankers in Response to Attacks on Iranian Vessels8MHR IRGC hits US aircraft carrier, destroyer with missiles. CENTCOM confirms the attack and says both ships evaded successfully 10CNN US military strikes three Iranian tankers in retaliation for missile attacks11BBC US hits three Iranian oil tankers after saying its warships were targeted; the IRGC says they sustained damage and fled 6TSN IRGC Strikes US Warships, Tankers in Response to Attacks on Iranian Vessels. No independent verification exists on the ships' condition. The US response was explicit and asymmetric: three Iranian crude carriers struck, one sunk in the Gulf of Oman, two permanently disabled 10CNN US military strikes three Iranian tankers in retaliation for missile attacks11BBC US hits three Iranian oil tankers after saying its warships were targeted5JPO 'Joining Iran's navy on seafloor': CENTCOM sinks Iranian oil tanker in Gulf of Oman. Admiral Cooper's statement was basically a formula: you shoot at two of ours, we take out three of yours 10CNN US military strikes three Iranian tankers in retaliation for missile attacks. Iran then hit six more vessels and warned all regional shipping that deviating from authorised routes will get you targeted 6TSN IRGC Strikes US Warships, Tankers in Response to Attacks on Iranian Vessels7GLT Iran's IRGC says hit 3 oilers in Hormuz Strait, 3 U.S. vessels elsewhere in retaliatory strikes.

Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf did not issue a warning. He announced a strategic shift: proportionate responses are finished, the rules have changed, and the IRGC strikes are "only a beginning" 1CRD Tehran vows ‘faster, harder, more painful’ strikes after IRGC responds to US attacks2AAM Iran parliament speaker warns US of ‘faster, heavier’ response to any new attack. That is a legislative branch publicly declaring a new cost-benefit framework for the war, calibrated to be heard in Washington. Separately, Tehran stood up a centralised "economic war headquarters" to coordinate ministries and sustain the war economy 4AAM Iran establishes ‘economic war headquarters’ amid US conflict, sanctions. Governments preparing to sign deals do not build wartime economic bureaucracies.

Leon Panetta, speaking to the Guardian, called this a "terrible stalemate" with "very few options" to end the war and predicted at least six more months of fighting 3GDN Iran war likely to drag on for another six months, ex-US defense secretary warns. He raised the Iraq and Afghanistan comparison directly, and flagged Pentagon internal dysfunction, specifically the Army Secretary's abrupt resignation amid Hegseth-driven firings, as a signal of weakness that adversaries are actively reading 3GDN Iran war likely to drag on for another six months, ex-US defense secretary warns. The Pentagon called it "completely baseless" without offering any substantive rebuttal, which is not nothing.

Over 190 people have been killed in two days of Houthi fighting near Taiz and the Red Sea coast, with Houthi forces pushing toward positions overlooking Bab al-Mandeb 15GDN Civilians among at least 60 killed in Yemen as ground fighting escalates. That strait handles roughly 10 percent of global maritime trade. Hormuz has been functionally disrupted since March. Both of the Persian Gulf's main shipping exits coming under simultaneous pressure is not a hypothetical scenario being modelled in think tanks; it is what is currently happening 15GDN Civilians among at least 60 killed in Yemen as ground fighting escalates.

Golden Global Investment Bank in Istanbul was sanctioned under Operation Economic Outcast for routing Iranian crude revenues to the IRGC Quds Force through shell companies, converting proceeds into gold and foreign currency 9YNT US sanctions Turkish bank network Israel wanted closed over alleged IRGC oil financing. The bank is small enough to have flown under most compliance radar. The timing, just ahead of the Trump-Xi bilateral, is a signal to both Ankara and Beijing that Washington is willing to hit NATO-adjacent financial institutions to close Iranian revenue channels, which is a different level of economic pressure than sanctioning a front company in a third country.