Iran says it struck LPG tanker in Hormuz and widens Gulf shipping measures

Tanker strike claim

The Revolutionary Guards said on 9 October that they had struck the NV Sunshine, a liquefied petroleum gas carrier owned by NatWit, while it attempted to transit a route south of the Strait of Hormuz that Iran considers illegal. The statement, carried by the state news agency IRNA, said Iranian forces "have taken control of the administration of the strait". A separate statement published by Tasnim said a huge fire broke out in the ship's engine room and propulsion system. Iran's armed forces warned that any passage through the strait must be coordinated with Iran, or ships will be targeted, and described the struck vessel as a giant LPG tanker crossing without Iran's permission and under US provocation.

Wider Gulf measures and UKMTO report

The guards said measures against unauthorised navigation would now extend to "the entire Persian Gulf region" rather than being limited to the strait. Tasnim quoted the force in a further statement:

Every ship that uses an unauthorized transit route will be tracked throughout the region, and its punishment will be inevitable.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) separately reported that a projectile hit a vessel 13 nautical miles (24 km) west of Al Jazeera in the United Arab Emirates, causing a fire. The agency said the fire had been put out and added:

The fate of the crew, the extent of the damage and the environmental impact are unknown at this stage.

The maritime security firm Vanguard identified the vessel as the Panama-flagged tanker GEM NO.2. Reports did not establish whether it was the same incident as the NV Sunshine claim. This week, two merchant ships were attacked off the coast of Qatar, the first attack in that zone in six months, and another was hit off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman.

Route dispute and stalled talks

In recent months the US Navy has escorted civilian ships with transponders switched off along the southern route near the Omani coast, to restore trade in oil and liquefied gas. Iran rejects that route as illegal and demands that ships pass along the Iranian coast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking at a summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Turkmenistan, said dialogue has a chance of success only when it is free of pressure and threat.

Negotiation conducted in the shadow of force is not negotiation, it is imposition and coercion.

Pezeshkian said sanctions on Iran would affect "regional trade, connectivity, energy, and order" and that talks with the United States to end the war were worthless, since they had only resulted in renewed attacks. The focus of negotiations has shifted to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively shut since the fighting began.

Background to the conflict

The seven-month conflict began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February. The United States and Iran agreed a memorandum of understanding in June that set out a framework for ending the conflict, but Iranian attacks on ships in the strait prompted a resumption of US military operations. Recent indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly failed to produce a breakthrough. The US has since dialled back military operations in favour of economic pressure and has not struck Iran since 1 September, according to RTE. The United States and Israel say the war was necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, a goal Iran has long denied pursuing.