Cruise missiles solve this problem or am I overly optimistic?
Potentially less useful than the scud hunt in western Iraq during the Gulf War. Which is to say that other than for diplomatic reasons, useless.
The missile units could easily be hidden in buildings in a twenty mile or more radius deploy, fire and be hidden again in less than ten minutes. A tanker could be laser targeted from the shore, eliminating even much of a radar signal to eliminate.
Then again, maybe the Iranians don’t move anything close. Just daring the tankers would be enough. Why risk assets that could be used against an American carrier fleet in that big bathtub called the Persian Gulf.