On Tuesday, five separate incidents related to commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz were reported. These incidents included four attacks on oil tankers and one threat from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran to another oil tanker.
Details of the Attacks on Oil Tankers
Three of the four attack notifications were late reports concerning incidents on October 3 and 4, while the last attack occurred on Tuesday afternoon. The last incident, reported in UKMTO 156-26, took place at 16:37 UTC on Tuesday when the captain of an oil tanker reported being targeted by an unknown projectile while passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
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This attack caused a fire in the oil tanker’s engine room, and the crew was fighting the fire when UKMTO issued its warning. No casualties or environmental impacts have been reported.
Threats and Escalation of Attacks
This attack occurred following four notifications related to the Strait of Hormuz issued on Tuesday morning. Two of them were late reports from October 4. One of the LPG tankers was targeted by an unknown projectile at 17:16, and less than two hours later, a crude oil tanker was also targeted at 19:07.
Another report indicated that a crude oil tanker was targeted by an unknown projectile above the waterline on October 3. UKMTO did not provide the exact timing of this incident, making it unclear whether this event is an additional attack or overlaps with one of the previous attacks.
In another notification on Tuesday, an inbound oil tanker reported being threatened by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps about 11 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, and was ordered to turn back or face an attack. The captain of this oil tanker complied with the order.
Overall, UKMTO revealed four attacks and one direct threat against commercial shipping in the Hormuz region on Tuesday, although three of these attacks had occurred two days prior.
These reports come after a period of violence in the Strait of Hormuz. One oil tanker reported that a drone had entered its smokestack and crashed in the engine room, causing a small fire and a temporary loss of power. Another oil tanker was hit on its port side and temporarily lost power before continuing towards Fujairah with the help of a tugboat. A third oil tanker also lost its ability to maneuver after another attack by a projectile.
The increase in reports of attacks comes as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) released new statistics on the enforcement of U.S. maritime sanctions against Iran on Tuesday. CENTCOM stated that U.S. forces directed the 130th commercial vessel on October 5 as part of the enforcement of sanctions against vessels attempting to enter or exit Iranian ports. These sanctions have been resumed since July 14.
The command reported that U.S. forces also disabled three vessels that had refused to comply and destroyed 13 commercial vessels over the past 12 weeks that were said to be violating sanctions or part of the IRGC's shadow network.
Commander Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, stated, "U.S. military forces are focused heavily on this mission. We will act swiftly against any vessel that attempts to disregard the sanctions."
Read more: Iran Attacked Oil Tankers in the Strait of Hormuz · Passage of Four Qatari LNG Vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in October 2023
