Iran’s military says it has widened its surveillance of the Strait of Hormuz by sending new units to monitor and target ships. The move comes as Tehran and Washington compete for control of the waterway, one of the world’s most vital routes for energy shipments.
The announcement follows a sharp rise in attacks in the strait and a drop in oil moving through it. Crude flows had recovered to roughly pre-war levels in September, but they have since fallen back as the assaults intensify.
Navy deploys new units and warns vessels
Iran’s navy said it had deployed operational units in a new formation east of the Strait of Hormuz, across the Sea of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It said the move followed the identification of a tanker that had been damaged and set on fire. The navy said these units would carry out “real time surveillance of enemy activities and maritime traffic in the region.”
The navy also told vessels not to turn off their transponders. It urged ships to coordinate with Iranian armed forces to secure safe passage through the area.
Separately, an Iranian official told a news agency that Tehran began using different offensive tactics about 10 days ago against vessels it regards as breaking its restrictions. The official said this had driven up the number of attacks on such ships. According to the official, the changes involve both the type and the tempo of the strikes, and one aim is to influence the outcome of the November midterm elections in the United States.
Attacks in Hormuz reach their worst level
Ships passing through the strait have faced their worst run of attacks since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February. Maritime tracking firm Kpler said 10 tankers were struck in the strait between September 28 and October 4, and another vessel was hit on October 5.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre, known as UKMTO, separately logged 15 further attacks between October 6 and October 14. Eleven of those occurred in the final four days of that period. UKMTO said a container ship and a tanker were hit by unidentified projectiles in the strait on Tuesday.
The US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center, or JMIC, said in its latest report on Sunday that the threat to merchant shipping in the strait remained “severe,” which is the second-highest rating. It said attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, along with attempted attacks and harassment, had continued. Those activities included drone overflights, targeted surveillance of merchant ships and occasional radio hailing over marine channels.
Iran says its attacks and restrictions in the waterway are a matter of national security and self-defence, responding to the US-Israeli war. Iranian authorities have also indicated they plan to disrupt a US-assisted shuttle system that has helped more energy exports pass through the strait during the conflict.
Oil flows drop and prices climb again
Before the war began on February 28, the strait typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day. Shipments through it accounted for roughly 20 percent of global crude and liquefied natural gas supplies. After the war started, Iran effectively closed the strait and stepped up strikes on vessels that defied its rules, while Washington kept up a blockade of Iranian ports.
In September, Gulf oil flows through Hormuz, excluding Iran, recovered to more than 81 percent of pre-war levels, according to Kpler. Crude exports from the wider Middle East exceeded pre-war levels on 14 days that month. More tankers began passing through under US Navy escort.
The threat from Iran, however, meant crews were receiving large bonuses and insurance costs stayed very high. Some analysts suspect Gulf nations may also have paid Iran to let tankers transit, and crude prices stayed elevated even as more oil left the region.
The recent surge in attacks has changed that picture. Kpler data show only 2.9 million barrels moved through the waterway on October 11, the lowest figure this month. On October 8, nearly 20.8 million barrels had passed through, while the pre-war daily average was 17.1 million barrels.
Oil prices kept rising on Wednesday morning. Brent crude futures gained 89 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $106.58 a barrel as of 00:30 GMT, after closing at $105.69 on Tuesday. West Texas Intermediate settled at $94.14.
Washington and Tehran dispute who controls the strait
A US military official told a news agency on Wednesday that Iran had changed its tactics in one significant way. After Washington destroyed much of Iran’s radar capability, the Revolutionary Guard began using unarmed spotters in small boats to pick out potential targets, including US naval vessels.
The official said US forces determined that spotters were operating from dhows and relaying targets to the Guard. US forces confronted one such vessel, ordered its occupants to abandon it and then destroyed it, the official added.
US Central Command, or CENTCOM, rejected claims by the Guard’s commander that Tehran controls the strait and would sink approaching US warships. In a post on X, CENTCOM said: “IRGC’s navy commander has no navy. American forces and regional partners clearly control the Strait of Hormuz.” The command added that US forces helped Gulf partners move more than 19 million barrels of crude through the chokepoint on Monday.
Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, claimed on Sunday night that CENTCOM, with help from the United Arab Emirates military, was using smaller vessels to transfer oil to larger tankers. He said Iran had been striking five or six participating vessels each night for weeks. “You are smuggling, but the strait is under Iran’s control, and we manage it,” he said.
Iran says the US accepted some of its seven conditions for fully reopening the strait and ending the war, but that Washington’s response was “insufficient.” Tehran insists a deal will only happen once all of its demands are met.
Chris Featherstone, a political scientist at the University of York, said the Trump administration had not moved to resume talks or sought further help from possible intermediaries such as Qatar and Pakistan. He said Iran may see the current moment as a chance to increase pressure on the administration. Featherstone also said the strait is not under Iranian control and that Tehran’s attacks aim to show Washington does not control it either. US allies, he added, will press the administration to restore stability in the region or outline a path toward it.
