Ship on fire in Strait of Hormuz – Iran reports tankers disabled

Strategic significance of the strait

The strait is of enormous strategic significance: roughly one-fifth of globally traded oil usually transits through it. According to financial data service LSEG, four ships passed through the strait on Sunday and eight on Saturday. Since Thursday, however, no LNG tanker had been recorded as having transited the Strait of Hormuz, the data service further reported. Overall, LSEG said, LNG tankers with a combined capacity of nearly 1.9 million tonnes are currently in the region.

S&P Global said LNG production in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had remained relatively stable despite the disruptions. In Bahrain, sirens sounded again according to the Interior Ministry, and Kuwait reported renewed shelling overnight. Kuwaiti air defenses were repelling "feindliche Drohnen" from Iran, the country's army said.

Expansion of US strikes

Iranian news agency Tasnim reported explosions in the city of Tabriz in the north, in the port city of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman, in Konarak in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, in the port city of Mahshahr in Khuzestan province, and in the port city of Bandar Imam Khomeini on the Persian Gulf. The agency Fars, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, also reported detonations in the Sirik area near the Strait of Hormuz and in Bushehr province.

The US government said it was enforcing a naval blockade off Iranian ports. The US military said it had been conducting strikes on targets in Iran for a ninth consecutive night. The regional command Centcom said the latest wave of strikes had targeted military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance facilities, missile launch and drone launch apparatuses, and communications networks inside Iran.

Contradictory accounts from Washington and Tehran

US President Donald Trump said the US had "wieder sehr hart getroffen" Iran the previous night. The strikes had been carried out "zu Ehren" of the "groartigen Patrioten" who were on the mission, "damit der Iran keine Atomwaffen bekommen kann." Trump also said: "Militärisch haben sie fast alles verloren… Sie haben nur noch sehr wenig übrig. Sie haben noch ein paar Raketen. Sie haben noch ein paar Drohnen." On control of the strait he said: "Wir kontrollieren die Meerenge; sie kontrollieren gar nichts. Mal sehen, was passiert."

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials, that Trump was leaning toward expanding operations against Iran. Options included intensified airstrikes, the deployment of ground troops to occupy Iranian islands near the Strait of Hormuz, and the bombing of an Iranian nuclear facility known as "Pickaxe Mountain." Trump had previously threatened to strike the complex at Kuh-e Kolang south of the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran.

The Washington Post quoted an unnamed US official as saying: "Wir haben nicht genug, um die Einsätze sicher aufrechtzuerhalten, und ich glaube nicht, dass sich das Weiße Haus dessen bewusst ist." The same official said the US was preparing for a broader war. Dwindling US weapons stockpiles, however, would limit the expansion of military operations in Iran.

Iran has long claimed control over shipping in the strait and demands that vessels take a route along its coast rather than off the coast of Oman. Reuters said it was initially unable to independently verify the incident with the ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The port cities of Chabahar and Bandar Imam Khomeini are among the most important transshipment hubs for Iranian energy exports on the Persian Gulf.