While oil exports from the Middle East have reportedly exceeded pre-war levels, attacks on tankers in or near the Strait of Hormuz have also risen over the past week, with at least 11 coming under attack since last Monday, according to a count from The New York Times.
According to the UK Maritime Trade Operations, at least four tankers have come under attack since Saturday, October 3. The latest attack occurred on Monday, when the master of an unnamed tanker reported that an unknown projectile struck his vessel, according to a report from gCaptain.
In another incident on Monday, a tanker reported being contacted by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) while it was transiting near the strait off the coast of Oman and was told to turn around or risk being targeted, and the master of the vessel complied with the IRGC order.
The increase in attacks on tankers in the region, coupled with the increase in oil exports, has led to speculation that Iran may be collecting tolls from some of the vessels that are passing through the strait. Some ships are being escorted by the US Navy, and other smaller tankers have been conducting ship-to-ship transfers from larger tankers inside the Gulf to others in the Arabian Sea.
Last week, an IRGC official said that Iran had continued daily attacks on ships in the strait while the US has stopped responding. In early September, the US bombed multiple Iranian tankers, declaring a new policy of bombing Iranian tankers in response to Iranian strikes on commercial ships, but that policy has stopped as the Trump administration appears to be avoiding further escalation with Iran until after the midterms.
President Trump has repeatedly declared that the US has “control” of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iranian officials have strongly rejected, maintaining that the crucial waterway will not be fully opened until the US implements the Memorandum of Understanding signed in June.
