This came after the Iranian navy claimed to have targeted a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker attempting to pass through the strategic waterway illegally, Iranian state media reported.
Vessels violating Iran’s rules and passing through the Strait of Hormuz would be “punished”, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned on Friday.
It is unclear it the two incidents are connected. Shipping traffic has also declined. At the same time, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile about 13 nautical miles west of Al Jazeera in the United Arab Emirates , causing a fire that was subsequently extinguished, Reuters reported. Data from analytics firm Kpler showed that only seven commodity-carrying vessels passed through the strait on October 6, the lowest daily number in more than two months. Crude oil shipments through the waterway fell 27% from a wartime peak to at least 10.1 million barrels per day, according to data cited by Reuters.
The IRGC Navy said the tanker saw a massive fire following the attack. Ali Mohammadi, the IRGC Navy’s political deputy, said Iranian forces had been conducting nightly operations in the Strait of Hormuz since the beginning of the war to protect the country’s interests. Tehran has warned regional countries that attempts to establish alternative oil-export routes would be considered hostile, according to officials cited by Reuters.
