The strike wave was five times larger than first reported, and for the first time it hit Iranian tankers directly

What happened

Tuesday's US strike wave, logged here at "seven-plus sites," in fact ran to roughly 100 targets — and included a category the war had not seen before: US drones firing missiles into the engine rooms of two Iranian government tankers anchored north of the naval blockade line. A US official described this as a newly Trump-approved "tanker for tanker" policy, explicitly retaliatory and tied to Iranian attacks on shipping, rather than an act of blockade enforcement. The full target list spans IRGC air-defense sites, radar, mine-laying capability, communications, anti-ship cruise-missile launchers and attack-drone launchers, with officials framing the objective as "at least a month of lowered threat levels" for Hormuz shipping through a "mowing the lawn" strategy of repeatedly degrading rebuilt capability. Roughly 40 ships still transited the strait the same day. Trump, on Truth Social: "I like our position now much better, with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait, and their economy totally collapsing." (Axios, InvestingLive)
Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement since the bombing resumed, and a wider national toll surfaced beneath the wedding-strike figures. The Supreme Leader posted to his Telegram channel Tuesday evening that "the Iranian people and the Resistance Front have unforgettable lessons to teach the American enemy" — written-only, consistent with the pattern this thread has recorded since he was injured in the strike that killed his father, with no public appearance. Separately, Al Jazeera reports at least 18-19 Iranians killed nationwide from Tuesday's exchanges, seven of them in Khuzestan province — a wider frame than, not a contradiction of, the Sirik/Kuhestak wedding-strike count of five named dead and 63-68 wounded already on this thread. ⚠️ All casualty figures remain Iranian-sourced with no independent count. (Anadolu Agency, Al Jazeera)
The IAEA's quarterly report calls for "utmost urgency" on access to Iran's nuclear sites and frames the situation as a "matter of proliferation concern." Seen by news agencies on 09-01, the report records that the agency has had no information on nuclear material or facility access since the strikes began. Director-General Rafael Grossi said he remains convinced the underlying problems "must be resolved through a long-lasting, verifiable diplomatic agreement." The report goes to the IAEA Board of Governors at its September 21-25 meeting. Iran's own position, stated by Atomic Energy Organization chief Mohammad Eslami on 08-26 and not previously recorded here: the IAEA "cannot seek to inspect these centres until it develops specific criteria and protocols for inspecting sites targeted by military attacks." ⚠️ Dated 09-01, surfaced on the 09-02 afternoon sweep; this thread had no IAEA or Grossi entry at all before now. (Al Jazeera)

Sources 5

Axios axios.com high 0.897 generally reliable
InvestingLive investinglive.com unrated
Anadolu Agency aa.com.tr solid 0.614 disputed / split
Al Jazeera aljazeera.com solid 0.779 generally reliable
Al Jazeera aljazeera.com solid 0.779 generally reliable

Credibility ratings combine two public datasets: Lin et al. 2023, PNAS Nexus 2(9):pgad286 (CC BY 4.0) for the domain-quality score, and Wikipedia's perennial-sources list (CC BY-SA 4.0) for the reliability tier. A rating describes an outlet's general record, never this particular article. Unrated means absent from those datasets — not a judgement.

The Projection

The strike wave was five times larger than first reported, and for the first time it hit Iranian tankers directly

What happened

Sources 5

The wider story