US Destroys Five More Iranian Tankers; Iran Missiles Jordan Base, Houthis Hit Saudi Aramco — Brent Nears $100

US Central Command said it struck and destroyed five more Iranian crude carriers on Sep 8 -- the M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1 and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman, and the M/T Derya near Kharg Island -- after the IRGC tried twice in two days to hit a US Navy warship with ballistic missiles; CENTCOM said crews were told to abandon ship first, and the M/T Riesco was filmed on fire and sinking. Iran retaliated overnight with a missile barrage on Jordan's Muwaffaq Salti (Al-Azraq) air base, which hosts US air operations; Jordan's military said it engaged 20 incoming ballistic missiles, intercepting 18, with 2 landing in unpopulated areas and no casualties. Separately, Yemen's Houthis launched what they called a 'qualitative, large-scale' strike with dozens of missiles and drones on Saudi Aramco facilities in Jizan, Abha and Najran plus Khamis Mushait Air Base, wounding 73 people and briefly halting operations at the Jizan refinery -- the kingdom's second-largest -- in the worst Houthi-Saudi escalation since their 2022 truce broke down in July; Riyadh vowed retaliation. Brent crude climbed as much as 2.2% intraday to $99.16/bbl on the Houthi news before settling near $97.89, within striking distance of the $100 mark for the first time since late July; US gasoline averaged $4.15/gallon nationally, nearly $1/gallon above last year's Labor Day level.