At least 12 tankers have been attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, maritime agency reports show, as Iran increases its campaign to halt US-backed efforts to move oil through the vital waterway.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency issued delayed reports yesterday covering six vessels struck on Sunday – five tankers and a container ship. Five incidents occurred in the strait and one near Oman’s Sohar anchorage.
The UKMTO reclassified the Sohar incident from suspicious activity to an attack after confirming a tanker had been struck by a drone. Local authorities assisted in evacuating the crew. In a separate incident, an outbound tanker was damaged when it was hit on its port side, although all crew members were reported safe.
The incidents follow a sustained increase in attacks, attempted attacks and the harassment of commercial vessels. The US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre said that showed Iran’s “intent to assert [its] presence along key transit lanes and maintain pressure on transiting vessels”.
The centre's assessment followed reports of at least 12 attacks on oil, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas tankers around the strait between September 28 and October 5, Reuters reported, quoting maritime security sources.
The International Maritime Organisation recorded nine vessel-related incidents in the same period, reflecting differences in verification and reporting.
Iran has accompanied the pressure on shipping with increasingly explicit warnings to vessels attempting to transit the strait. On Saturday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said a crude oil supertanker had struck a naval mine and suffered a major fire while using an unauthorised route with its navigation systems switched off.
Shipping analyst Sal Mercogliano said video circulating with the claim did not appear to show a mine strike, as the vessel was stationary and there was no underwater explosion. The IRGC claimed any tanker that “wishes to ignore the security and rules” of the strait would face a similar fate.
Habibollah Sayyari, chief of staff and joint co-ordinator of Iran’s army, issued a further warning on Sunday. “We have struck blows against enemy vessels. If anything else happens against Iran, we will strike them again,” he said.
On Monday, the IRGC said it had struck a supertanker attempting to transit the strait with its transponders switched off. Seatrade reported a separate Iranian claim that a supertanker had been hit. The incident not been confirmed.
Earlier this month, a crude tanker was struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but the threat to commercial shipping has also extended beyond the waterway. A vessel reported being hit by projectiles about 95km north of Madinat Ash Shamal in Qatar, with casualties reported.
The Panama-flagged crude carrier Gem No 2 was struck by a drone, with reports placing the vessel about 25km west of Al Jazeera in the UAE. The resulting fire was extinguished and Indian officials said the vessel’s 22 crew members were safe.
The attacks and warnings have sharpened the divide between Tehran’s claims of control over the waterway and Washington’s assessment of shipping conditions.
Mohammadreza Naqdi, an adviser to the IRGC's commander, said Iran would close routes it considered to be illegal, including passages along Oman’s coast.
“The Strait of Hormuz is closed and the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran have full control over it,” Mr Naqdi was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected that assessment last week, saying commercial oil flows had largely recovered despite Iran’s efforts to disrupt shipping. “The Strait of Hormuz is open. There’s almost as much oil flowing out now as there was before this conflict began,” he said. “So they’ve lost complete control of the strait.”
