Iran on Wednesday said it had struck 10 vessels near the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for a U.S. operation that sank five Iranian oil tankers, marking the largest declared round of tit-for-tat attacks on maritime traffic since the six-month war began. The exchanges pushed Brent crude past $100 a barrel for the first time since July and raised fresh alarms about disruptions to global energy supplies. At least one seafarer was reported killed and another listed as missing.
The U.S. released footage showing multiple tankers burning before sinking and said the strikes were a direct response to recent Iranian missile attacks on a U.S. Navy warship. U.S. Central Command framed the tanker strikes as part of a new policy: when Iranian forces fire on or threaten U.S. vessels, the United States will target Iranian tankers believed to fuel or support such operations. Washington said it had struck 10 Iranian-linked tankers over the past week. “For every time they try to hit U.S. naval ships, they're going to lose tankers,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) countered that it had attacked two U.S. ships and eight tankers near the strait. In addition, Tehran said it launched ballistic missiles at a base in eastern Jordan used by U.S. forces. Jordan reported that its air defenses intercepted 18 of the 20 missiles, with the remaining two falling in unpopulated areas; U.S. officials described the strikes as ineffective and reported no American casualties.
Maritime authorities and local sources reported multiple incidents across the Gulf and Gulf of Oman. The charterer of the oil products tanker Hercules Star said one crew member had been killed while the vessel was at anchor off Dubai and another was missing; maritime security sources suggested the ship might have been struck by a drone. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center also noted a vessel listing and possibly taking on water after being hit by a projectile, though it was unclear whether that report referred to the same ship.
In Iraqi waters, two port officials said a tanker used for storage, the New Andros, was struck by a drone and ignited; all 22 crew were reported safe. Other merchant ships were reported hit by disabling fire in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Damage was also reported to a liquefied natural gas tanker in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned of steeper reprisals if attacked again, saying they would hit 20 targets in response to two or three strikes and that they planned to publish maps expanding a maritime exclusion zone extending as far east as Chabahar near Pakistan.
The recent flurry of violent encounters has effectively choked off much of the traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow transit route that previously carried roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply. In late August, U.S. escorts had managed to guide increased tanker traffic through the strait, briefly lifting flows to as much as 8–9 million barrels per day. But analysts now say throughput has slumped to around 2 million bpd amid renewed hostilities, a collapse that has driven sharp price rises and steep increases in refined fuel costs. U.S. retail diesel hit a record average above $5.94 a gallon, and gasoline prices also climbed to seasonal highs.
The turmoil at sea is mirrored by heightened activity on land and in other theaters. Fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement has intensified, posing an additional risk to regional energy infrastructure. The Houthis recently launched an assault on four Saudi cities that ignited large fires visible from space at oil facilities and wounded scores of people; Saudi authorities later issued, then lifted, alerts for some affected cities. Meanwhile, a Saudi-backed government in southern Yemen has counterattacked Houthi-controlled areas, and the Houthis have threatened Saudi shipping in the Red Sea, widening the conflict’s maritime reach.
The upshot is a region in which military action now regularly targets energy and shipping assets, prompting both immediate human costs and broader economic repercussions. With both sides openly linking maritime strikes to broader military objectives, the risk of further escalation remains high, and energy markets are bracing for continued volatility as traders and governments respond to disruptions in one of the world’s most crucial chokepoints for oil and gas.
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