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Ship strikes in and around the Strait of Hormuz have reached a record high this month, already surpassing attacks recorded during the entire month of March — at the height of the Iran war — according to maritime data.
The latest attacks come as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Saturday that the Strait of Hormuz was “closed,” amid reports of at least five more tanker attacks in the previous 24 hours.
“We maintain full control and intelligence oversight over the area east of the Strait of Hormuz, the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman,” the IRGC said in a statement.
The fresh wave of attacks included a tanker struck by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a small boat — a type of attack not previously reported in the current wave of incidents, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).
A supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil also caught fire Saturday. The IRGC claimed the vessel had struck a mine while traveling along an “unauthorized” route. US Central Command, meanwhile, said vessels were being struck by projectiles and said it had demined the strait.
Iran’s navy separately reported that an oil tanker had caught fire and become immobilized in the Gulf of Oman. Two other tankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz were attacked Friday, according to UKMTO.
Over the past week that ended on Friday, 12 vessels were attacked, making it the largest number of weekly strikes reported to the UKMTO since the start of the war in Iran on Feb. 28.
Ten of the attacks occurred in the Strait of Hormuz, one in the Persian Gulf and one in the Gulf of Oman. Eight of the vessels were oil tankers, and four were container ships.
Of the attacks, one ship sunk, nine were reported damaged, three crew members were injured. Another two people were reported missing, after a drone strike struck a Nicaragua-flagged vessel on Thursday.
Six attacks over the past week occurred in a single day — Oct. 11.
The agency noted it was “struggling to accurately report true number of attacks” and that the number of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz was likely even higher “with a majority of vessels attacked refusing to report.”
What’s especially worrying about last week’s attacks is that most occurred near the coast of Oman rather than Iran — along an alternative route the US had increasingly relied on to avoid Iranian strikes.
Iran claimed the route was “unauthorized” and insisted vessels travel close to its own shores, as it seeks to exert control of the critical waterway.
The IRGC’s navy said strikes would not be “limited to the Strait of Hormuz,” announcing a “new deployment formation” across the area, according to Iranian state media.
According to one expert, Tehran has “evolved its strategy,” targeting ships near the coast of Gulf Arab states and in the Gulf of Oman, and has been carrying out “near daily or multiple attacks every single day”.
“The aim here is to stop the ships going through and to deter others,” Martin Kelly, CEO of Orbital Risk Intelligence, told the BBC.
In all, since the start of October, there have been 22 reported ship strikes — almost double the average of the previous months.
“If America leaves the region, the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and collective security will be established with the participation of the region’s countries, and the global economy will improve. If it doesn’t leave, we’ll expel it,” threatened Iranian Army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia on X.
Iran has threatened to expel US forces from the region while claiming control over the critical shipping lane, setting up a direct challenge to Washington’s assertion that the waterway remains secure.
“Let me be clear — the Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the United States and our regional partners, not Iran,” US CENTCOM Chief Brad Cooper said in a video message late Friday.
Cooper said 400 ships had transited the strait and 100 million barrels of oil had moved through it over the past week, despite the attacks.
But the data shows oil exports have fallen this month.
An average of just under 12 million barrels of oil a day flowed through the strait during the seven days ending Oct. 13 — below the 15 million barrels reported at the end of September and the pre-war baseline of 17 million barrels a day.