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US Centcom Dismisses Iranian Claim of Striking 2 US Navy Destroyers

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US Centcom has dismissed claims by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that they hit two US Navy destroyers deployed in the Middle East, saying the claim is "completely false", in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

Oil and gas prices rose sharply on Wednesday following reports that the US and Iran were again trading missile strikes in an on-off war that has endured six months and largely shuttered the Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons supplies transited before the conflict.

The Brent oil futures contract crossed the $100 per barrel mark, approaching $101 by early afternoon in Europe, roughly a 3.1% increase versus the previous day.

The post said that all attempted IRGC attacks failed and that the US had meanwhile destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in the last week, all of which belonged to a sanctions-evading shadow network which Centcom said funds the IRGC.

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