The IRGC targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over two days

The Hormuz war escalated to its most direct exchange yet. The IRGC targeted a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles on two separate occasions over the past two days; US Central Command says American forces responded by destroying five Iran-linked oil tankers on Tuesday — four in the Gulf of Oman and one near Kharg Island — directing their crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable. Secretary of State Rubio defended the pattern bluntly: 'Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that... they're going to lose tankers.' The Pentagon disclosed 30 additional US troops wounded, bringing the total disclosed casualties in this round to 797. Iran's Revolutionary Guards separately said they captured an advanced US unmanned underwater vehicle near the strait's entrance, and the IRGC warned tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini waters to evacuate. Shipping data from Kpler shows the practical result: traffic through the strait has fallen to roughly 10 vessels per day, its lowest level since May, down from 13-15/day just days earlier — only two vessels transited last Saturday. In a separate but related flashpoint, Houthi forces in Yemen struck Saudi oil facilities, and Saudi Arabia retaliated — the worst exchange between the two since their truce four years ago. On Ukraine, Russian combat losses reached approximately 1,499,390 as of Sep 8 (+1,410), just 610 short of the 1.5 million mark, following Witkoff and Kushner's visit to Kyiv after Moscow talks that ISW assesses produced no significant Russian compromise.