U.S. Central Command struck roughly 100 Iranian targets under new 'tanker for tanker' policy, continuing war-powers-defiant Iran campaign

On September 1, 2026, U.S. Central Command carried out its largest round of strikes against Iran in weeks, hitting roughly 100 targets under a newly approved "tanker for tanker" policy intended to deter Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes hit two Iranian government tankers — targeting their engine rooms with drone-launched missiles — alongside IRGC air-defense sites, radar systems, mine-laying capability, communications infrastructure, anti-ship cruise-missile launchers, and drone launchers. CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said on the record that "the U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC," and a U.S. official said the strikes left Iran having "lost control of the Strait of Hormuz" and "the wider conflict."

The strikes extended a military campaign against Iran that has continued since the war began on February 28, 2026, without new congressional authorization. In June 2026, Congress passed a first-ever bicameral War Powers Resolution directing the president to end hostilities with Iran; the administration has not complied, instead continuing and escalating strikes under the president's own asserted authority as commander-in-chief. The "tanker for tanker" policy approved by President Trump formalizes a standing framework for further strikes rather than seeking the authorization Congress's resolution calls for.

Iran responded with roughly 25 ballistic missiles aimed at U.S. bases in Jordan, about half of which reached Jordanian airspace before ten were intercepted and three fell in remote areas; Iran also launched drone attacks on U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait, most of which were intercepted. Iranian state media alleged that one U.S. strike hit a wedding in Kuhestak, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more; the United States denied targeting civilians. A U.S. official said the strikes were expected to buy at least a month of lowered threat levels for commercial shipping in the strait.

Updates

2026-09-06 — Independent investigations corroborate the Kuhestak wedding strike as US-caused [3, 4, 5]

What had been only an Iranian state-media allegation moved toward independent confirmation. Reuters' own weapons-forensics review — four military experts examining video and images from the scene — found the Kuhestak strike was "likely a direct hit by a US munition," identifying probable Joint Standoff Weapon glide-bomb fragments and estimating the intended target, a communications tower, sat roughly 135 meters (about 440 feet) from the wedding celebration that was struck instead; a separate Washington Post analysis reached a similar conclusion. Human-rights monitoring groups cited by Reuters put the toll at four deaths — three wedding guests and a teenager on a nearby motorcycle — and at least 68 injuries, different figures from Iran's own initial casualty claims. Vice President Vance said the U.S. was "investigating it because obviously we care" while voicing skepticism of Iranian state-media reporting generally; CENTCOM said it was already reviewing the incident. No U.S. official has confirmed responsibility for this specific strike as of this update.