Strait of Hormuz: UKMTO confirms attack on two container ships; 15 attacks in eight days

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) confirmed on Wednesday, 14 October, that two container ships were hit by "unidentified projectiles" in the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday. The confirmation came after DIAR's earlier report on the Revolutionary Guards' claim that a container ship had sunk after hitting a mine.

According to the centre, a 19,000-tonne container ship and a 50,000-tonne container ship were hit about 20 minutes apart, the first at around 20:10 on Tuesday. The damage was "minor" and both ships continued on their way. As of publication, no independent maritime source has confirmed the Revolutionary Guards' claim that a container ship carrying more than 2,500 containers sank south of the Strait of Hormuz.

Fifteen attacks in eight days

Based on UKMTO data, 15 attacks on ships were recorded between 6 and 14 October, 11 of them in the last four days. The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), led by the US Navy, has assessed the threat level to shipping as "severe", the second-highest level. Earlier, twelve commercial ships were attacked in the week of 5 to 11 October.

Data from the firm Kpler shows that the volume of crude oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which had reached nearly 20.8 million barrels on 8 October, plunged to 2.9 million barrels on 11 October, the lowest figure this month, against an average of 17.1 million barrels a day before the war. The price of Brent crude reached 106.58 dollars a barrel on Wednesday morning.

Drone attack on a fishing boat in Sirik

On the same day a fishing vessel was hit in the waters of Sirik in Hormozgan province, and according to the Hormozgan governorate, three people were injured in an incident linked to an unidentified drone. The injured were taken ashore by another fishing boat.

The claim of controlling the strait and the American response

Mohsen Rezaei, one of the Islamic Republic's security officials, claimed that Tehran has been targeting five or six ships every night for weeks and that the strait is "under the control" of the Islamic Republic. US Central Command (CENTCOM) responded that on Monday American forces and regional partners helped more than 19 million barrels of crude oil pass through the strait and that control of the Strait of Hormuz is clearly in their hands. A US military official has also said that, after most of its radars were destroyed, the Revolutionary Guards use unarmed lookouts on small boats and dhows to identify targets. Two officials of the Islamic Republic had said earlier that Tehran has changed its tactics of attacking ships to influence the US election.

Fifteen attacks in eight days and a fall in oil transit to less than a fifth of the pre-war level show the price of the Islamic Republic's warmongering in the Strait of Hormuz.