Ship attacks resume in Hormuz, IRGC warns over southern corridor: Return of oil exports threatened

A new wave of ship attacks around the Strait of Hormuz is threatening the return of Middle East oil exports to pre-war levels, precisely at the moment when Gulf producers had pushed the flow of oil toward normalisation, as The Wall Street Journal reports.

The rapid recovery of shipments in recent weeks has been driven by U.S. naval protection and by earlier waves of attacks that destroyed Iranian radar and communications along the contested strait, according to the same reporting. The United Arab Emirates and other producers have built a complicated “shuttle” system – tankers are loaded inside the Persian Gulf, exit Hormuz and transfer the oil to ships waiting outside the strait.

But after several days without reported attacks at the end of September, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) recorded seven strikes on ships around the strait since 28 September; on Sunday another strike was also reported, without specifying when the incident occurred. All seven ships were hit near the narrowest part of the strait, according to UKMTO.

On Saturday, the navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a warning to ships planning to use the U.S.-backed route through the strait, saying they would be targeted and destroyed. “Do not trust the U.S. navy and do not use the southern corridor at all, do not put your lives at risk,” said the radio message broadcast on a public maritime channel and seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The renewed attacks may have begun to be felt, with the first signs that the flow of oil is slowing, analysts say. Exact data arrive with delay, because many ships are sailing without their transponders turned on so as not to become targets.