Strait of Hormuz: Supertanker ablaze as attacks on shipping intensify
Iran says a tanker hit a naval mine and UK maritime authorities report more incidents, while Washington touts an "absolute isolation" campaign against Tehran. Talks remain deadlocked.
Archive image · Photo: NAVCENT Public Affairs / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz escalated further over the weekend. The navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said an unnamed supertanker struck a naval mine on Saturday night and caught fire, claiming the vessel had used an unauthorized route with its navigation systems switched off. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported several incidents of military action or warnings against vessels in the strait and the Gulf of Oman on Sunday, including a projectile hitting an outbound tanker. The UAE coast guard rescued 22 crew members from a burning tanker.
The United States, meanwhile, is enforcing its naval blockade of Iranian ports. U.S. Central Command says it has disabled four commercial vessels, turned back 135 ships and destroyed 10 Iran-linked tankers since mid-July. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said "maximum pressure" had become an "absolute isolation campaign." Crude flows through the strait, which normally carries a fifth of the world's oil and gas, were recently about 40% below normal, according to Kpler data.
Tehran remains defiant. Army coordinator Habibollah Sayyari said on state television that Iran had struck enemy vessels and would do so again if attacked. Among its conditions for reopening the strait, Iran is demanding a return to a memorandum of understanding agreed in June. Messages continue to pass through mediators, but Al Jazeera reported that no breakthrough is expected before Israel's Oct. 27 election or the Nov. 3 U.S. midterms.