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Two oil tankers shuttling oil out of the Gulf were hit on Monday night amid a rise in attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, even as the US claimed its military was safely guiding vessels through the waterway.
The strikes follow a renewed round of violence between the US and Iran, with Tehran firing on a US military base in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for US attacks on Larak Island, which sits in the strait.
The tankers were the Senegal Prosperity, owned by the South Korean shipping company Sinokor, and the Saudi-owned vessel Sidr, according to two maritime security analysts. They cautioned that, with limited communication in the Gulf, the identity of the ships had not yet been formally confirmed.
UK Maritime Trade Operations, the shipping authority with offices in Dubai, reported one tanker had been struck by three “unknown projectiles” on Monday but did not identify the ship.
That vessel had been transiting the strait via the route closest to the Omani coast, a channel that the US military has claimed is fully open and under its protection in an effort to get oil flowing out of the Gulf to global markets.
The price of Brent crude edged up to $92 per barrel in intraday trading on Tuesday, reflecting markets’ fears about the reduction in energy exports through the strait.
The increase in attacks on shipping comes after a period of relative calm in the war, which is now dragging into its seventh month.
Iran has increasingly targeted vessels that are shuttling oil out of the Gulf and transferring it to tankers in the Gulf of Oman, which then deliver the cargoes to the final destination.
The Kuwaiti oil tanker Burgan was hit by a missile on Saturday heading out of the strait, the second Kuwaiti vessel to be targeted within 48 hours.
US President Donald Trump touted on Monday that the US was safely guiding an average of 30 ships out through the critical waterway each night.
“We have the Strait of Hormuz in extremely good shape. You know, we’re taking over,” he told reporters.
The latest data from the maritime analytics company Windward shows that 10 vessels passed in and out of the Gulf on August 30, and the highest number that has passed through the strait on any one day in the past week is 21.
Ships have been turning off their GPS signalling systems to avoid being detected as they sail through the strait, making tracing transits more difficult.
“If they count very small ships and dhow [traditional sailing ship] traffic as well as larger tankers that really matters. It can be very easy to inflate transit numbers,” a maritime security analyst said.
Following the collapse of an interim deal signed in June, which was intended to extend a ceasefire and gradually reopen the strait, the waterway has become a key battleground in the conflict.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday Tehran would immediately reciprocate if the US sticks to the June deal, Iranian state media reported.
“I state explicitly that if the United States returns to its commitments under the aforementioned memorandum of understanding, the Islamic republic of Iran will immediately take reciprocal action,” Pezeshkian said while at a summit with leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kyrgyzstan.
Sinokor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
