Symbolic imageTanker attacks resume in Hormuz as Iran holds the strait shut and the US adds forces
Tanker attacks resumed in the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran says stays shut until its conditions are met. Iran's security chief admitted a dire economic crisis.
On Sunday, 4 October, the UK maritime agency UKMTO said an unknown projectile hit a tanker in the strait, damaging its engine room, with no injuries reported. Reuters reported that Tehran will not reopen the waterway until its conditions are met, which Handelsblatt links to fulfilment of the interim agreement. The Wall Street Journal reports that attacks on ships resurged just as oil had begun flowing out of Hormuz again. Iran has largely blocked traffic since late February, and the US military has also attacked civilian Iranian ships, Handelsblatt notes.
US sends more forces
The Pentagon is sending a third carrier group and more warships, the Wall Street Journal and Axios report, citing US officials, with arrivals expected by the end of November. The Journal puts the troop increase at 9,000 to 10,000. Asked by Time whether new strikes could follow the early-November midterms, President Trump said: "Possible."
Economic strain in Iran
Security chief Mohsen Rezaei told a government meeting on Saturday that Iran faces one of its most difficult periods, IRNA reported, as the rial slides under US sanctions and a naval blockade. Oil minister Mohsen Paknejad resigned on Sunday for personal reasons, state media told Reuters; Hamid Bovard is interim successor, the New York Times reports.