Three Tankers Struck Within 24 Hours In Hormuz As Trump Blames Iran

The Strait of Hormuz turned into a shooting gallery once again this week, with three commercial tankers struck within roughly a day, prompting the United States to blame Iran for what one American official called a gross violation of the fragile memorandum of understanding signed just weeks earlier. Remarkably, despite missiles, drones and fires breaking out on multiple vessels, officials keep repeating the same reassuring line, no casualties reported, as if that alone should calm anyone's nerves about the world's most critical oil chokepoint.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre confirmed the first strike late Monday when an unidentified projectile hit a tanker near Limah, Oman , sparking a fire. Reuters later identified the vessel as the Qatari flagged Al Rekayyat , a liquefied natural gas carrier operated by Nakilat , struck on its port side directly above the engine room. The captain's mayday call, describing being hit by a drone, was recorded and reviewed by Reuters, while the crew was evacuated safely even as fears grew that the ship could explode.

A second vessel, the Saudi flagged crude oil supertanker Wedyan , owned by shipping company Bahri , was also damaged off Oman's coast, reportedly by an Iranian fired missile. A third tanker was hit early Tuesday by an uncrewed aerial vehicle, sustaining what UKMTO described as minor structural damage before continuing to its next port of call, because apparently getting shot at mid transit is now just another Tuesday in the Gulf.

The Joint Maritime Information Center raised its Strait of Hormuz threat assessment from Substantial to Severe following the three attacks, warning that deliberate hostile action against commercial shipping is now considered likely. Iran's Fars News Agency claimed the tanker was targeted after ignoring repeated warnings from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy over its use of the so called Omani route, a corridor Tehran insists remains unsafe for vessels that skip its officially sanctioned path. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari condemned the strike as unacceptable and held Iran fully legally responsible for the damage.

The attacks land squarely on one of the thorniest sticking points in ongoing US Iran talks , control and safety of the strait, which Tehran effectively closed off during the earlier war before agreeing to the memorandum of understanding in June. President Donald Trump warned Monday that Washington would either make a deal or finish the job, statements Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed, insisting negotiations will not resume if threats continue. Talks remain further complicated by Iran's ongoing multi day funeral proceedings for its slain supreme leader, during which Tehran has paused active negotiations altogether. Trump departed for a NATO summit in Ankara shortly after the strikes, where Gulf security is expected to feature prominently on the agenda.