Islamabad: Iran and the US traded their biggest set of attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz since the war began with the US saying it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers and Iran saying it attacked ten ships trying to break the Iranian maritime exclusion zone in force since Monday.

Iran said it would target ships in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports as retaliation for the latest round of attacks by the US on shipping in the Strait. The IRGC said it had targeted two navy vessels and eight tankers earlier in retaliation for US strikes and would hit two for every single US strike.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said Iran has reached a point where "if the enemy hits two or three of our targets, we will respond strongly with 20 targets."

"US warships have withdrawn at least 400 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz,” he added

"Yeah the back and forth is pretty straightforward, and that is that Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that they're going to lose tankers ad I think you'll see that again today," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio today.

Iran also shared video footage of a captured US seaborne unmanned vehicle that it said was prowling near the coastline.