Amman, Sept. 9 (SANA)Jordansaid its air defenses intercepted 18 of 20Iranian ballistic missileson Wednesday, while two fell in unpopulated areas without causing casualties, amid a sharp escalation in the six-month-old regional war.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched the missiles at a base used byU.S. forcesnear Al Azraq in Jordan and claimed the attack caused heavy damage.

A U.S. official, however, said the strikes were ineffective and that all American troops were accounted for.

The attack came after theU.S. militarysaid it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday in response to the IRGC targeting aU.S. Navy warshiptwice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days.Washingtonsaid no Americans were harmed.

“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” U.S. Secretary of StateMarco Rubiotold reporters during a visit to Colombia.

The IRGC also said Wednesday it attacked 10 ships, including two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers, attempting to cross what it described as a “prohibited and unsafe” area of theStrait of Hormuz, a vital global energy route severely disrupted byIranian attacks.

Iran has targeted U.S. assets and allies in the region throughout the war, including several times in Jordan. At least two U.S. military personnel were killed in one strike in July.

Oil prices extended gains in early trading Wednesday, withBrent crudenearing $100 a barrel amid concerns over disruption to oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Regional tensions have also intensified following attacks byYemen’s Iran-aligned Houthison several Saudi cities Tuesday. The attacks wounded 73 people and set oil installations ablaze.

The Houthis said they used drones and missiles to target a Saudi air base in Khamis Mushait and Saudi state oil company assets in Abha, Najran andJazan. Saudi authoritiesreported fires at the sites and said women and children were among the wounded.

The broader conflict, which began on February 28 with jointU.S.-Israeli attackson Iran, has intensified after about a month of relative calm, increasingly affecting military, shipping and energy assets across the region.