Symbolic imageTanker attacks in Hormuz continue as Iran says US warships have left
Attacks on tankers in and around the Strait of Hormuz continued over the weekend, and the IRGC turned another vessel back. Iran says no US warships remain in the Gulf region.
TASS counts 14 commercial ships attacked in the strait in September, and cites International Maritime Organization statistics showing three seafarers dead, two injured and two missing. The New York Times counts at least 11 tankers attacked in and around the strait since the previous Monday, four of them in the last two days. On Sunday, 4 October, a projectile from an unknown attacker hit a tanker's engine room, and the crew was safe, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). On Monday, UKMTO reported that the IRGC navy intercepted a tanker 11 nautical miles north of the Omani port of Khasab and ordered it to turn back or be hit by a missile. The tanker complied.
Iran claims US Navy is gone
IRGC adviser Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said on Iranian state media that for the first time no US warships are in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman or the northern Indian Ocean. He said US forces are more than 1,000 km from Iran's border and that Iran and Oman have adopted navigation rules for the strait.
Suspicion of a secret toll
Al Jazeera reports that Middle East crude exports exceeded pre-war levels on four days in late September, at 19.5 to 22.5 million barrels per day against about 18 million before the war. Kpler's Michelle Brohard suspects Gulf states are paying Iran for safe passage, but she presented this as speculation and it is unverified. Lloyd's List reported an IRGC "toll booth" system as early as March, and the Trump administration has said Iran will not be allowed to charge a toll.
Other opinions
TASS and Politika relay Fadavi's claim of a US withdrawal without comment, while the New York Times writes that US forces are still protecting ships transiting the strait.