The strikes come a day after President Donald Trump dismissed the conflict as "small potatoes", with little apparent progress towards ending the six-month war.

Centcom said it "successfully evaded" the multiple attacks from the IRGC earlier in the day, which were targeting a US aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer.

Kharg Island hosts Iran's main terminal to export oil.

The crews aboard the two attacked tankers in the Gulf of Oman were taken to shore in lifeboats, Irib reported.

One of those tankers was empty and the other was carrying a load of oil, it added.

After a period of relative calm, the US resumed attacks last Sunday, when it said it had struck two rocket launchers to prevent them being used to lay naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz.