Iran sets crosshairs on ‘US-UAE’ oil shuttle out of Strait of Hormuz

The IRGC is hitting more ships allegedly part of a shuttle operation to move crude oil beyond the Strait of Hormuz.

Ships float anchored off the coast of Khasab in Oman’s Musandam Governorate, near the Strait of Hormuz, on October 2, 2026 [AFP]

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities have signalled they intend to disrupt an Arab-operated and United States-assisted shuttle system that has enabled more energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israel war on Iran.

With the US naval blockade of Iran’s southern ports in place and sanctions tightening, Tehran has said it will pursue military and diplomatic efforts to put pressure on Washington to submit to its demands regarding reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

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This strategic waterway, through which roughly a fifth of global oil and gas flowed before the war, has been largely closed to shipping following Iranian attacks since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

But the US Navy has reportedly opened up a route so Gulf states can export oil and other commodities amid an energy crisis.

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei responded on Sunday night, saying the shuttle system is now an explicit target for Tehran.

Rezaei claimed that the US Central Command, with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates military, was using smaller vessels to transfer oil to larger tankers. He claimed Iran had been striking five or six participating vessels nightly for weeks.

“You are smuggling, but the strait is under Iran’s control, and we manage it,” he asserted.

This appeared to be a taunt aimed at US President Donald Trump, who has hailed energy exports at times reaching pre-war levels over recent weeks.

Rezaei appeared to give the impression that Iran wants to have lasting authority over Hormuz, and promised a harsh response if Iran’s energy and civilian infrastructure were attacked again.

His threats appeared aimed at Arab regional states, with a warning that digital infrastructure could be targeted. Rezaei threatened US-linked cables, data centres and artificial intelligence facilities in the UAE and around the Strait of Hormuz.

A woman rides her scooter past Iranian Zolfaghar missiles placed in front of a billboard of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei at Baharestan Square in downtown Tehran, Iran, September 28, 2026 [Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]

Rezaei also accused Saudi Arabia of helping the US move oil around Iran’s restrictions. But he did not threaten a direct attack against Riyadh – which is currently being targeted by Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis.

In early September, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) threatened tankers at ports and anchorages in Kuwait and Bahrain, citing US attacks on Iranian tankers . It accused both countries of complicity through hosting US armed forces.

Iran has claimed the US accepted some of Tehran’s seven conditions for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war. But Tehran insists that a deal will only materialise when all its demands are met.

Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at the Crisis Group, said this reflects Tehran’s apparent assessment that it is under no immediate pressure to reach an agreement with the US since its pressure in the Hormuz has a global impact.

“The question, however, is whether Tehran is overestimating its ability to sustain this pressure, given the growing economic costs of the confrontation for Iran itself,” Azizi wrote on X.

The system involves very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and smaller vessels coordinating with the US military to load crude oil at Arab ports and use southern corridors near the coast of Oman to exit the strait.

Vessels often switch off their transponders and travel at night to minimise the risk of being targeted by the Iranians. After ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, some of the shuttles come back to load more.

Multiple vessels were targeted overnight Sunday to Monday, including two outbound tankers and one in anchorage near Oman’s port city of Sohar, where ship-to-ship transfers are allegedly being conducted.

Other vessels were targeted by projectiles last week, indicating that attacks have extended beyond the Strait of Hormuz to target the shuttle system.

The IRGC has also increasingly driven a narrative that naval mines, believed to have been planted across the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war, pose a serious threat to vessels attempting to navigate the waterway without coordinating with Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority.

The IRGC said three tankers suffered major damage over the weekend after being struck by mines. It also released footage of one ship ablaze that is said to have been struck by a mine, although the footage did not appear to show a mine going off.

The shuttle system has provided Arab national oil companies with a way out of Hormuz via the southern corridor near Oman.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a London-based senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward, said this system has proven highly effective.

“Under international maritime law, which underpins 11 billion tonnes of seaborne trade annually, vessels have what’s called the right of transit passage,” Bockmann told Al Jazeera. “So, what Oman has done is allow vessels to go through under international maritime law, but they have had US military assistance.”

Tehran says shipping will be disrupted so long as the US continues its choking naval blockade against Iran, which has also stepped up its efforts to counter efforts by Arab states to export oil. At least 15 ships are believed to have been targeted in October so far, according to Winward.

“The more effective the route has become in facilitating the transport of oil and gas, the less leverage Iran has over Hormuz, and more attacks we are seeing on vessels that are using that southern corridor,” Bockmann said.

Windward’s data shows 31 ships transited the Strait of Hormuz daily in the final week of September. This was considerably lower than the 138 before the war.

Eighty-seven percent of the 45 ships targeted by Iran during the third quarter of 2026 were tankers.

Around 47 percent belonged to Gulf Arab energy companies’ national shipping fleets, Windward noted, and 93 percent of the strikes took place in the Strait of Hormuz. Most attacks targeted vessels transiting the southern corridor with their transponders turned off.

These attacks have contributed to a massive increase in freight costs. Freight represented 25-30 percent of Gulf crude’s cost, versus just 1 to 3 percent before the war, according to Windward. National oil companies have resorted to offering discounts of up to $35 per barrel below official selling prices.

The main reason for the rise is a shortage of tankers willing to make the dangerous crossing. Between 15 and 20 percent of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) are tied up with an inefficient logistics system that relies on shuttle transfers, complicated by escalating attacks and exposure at loading ports and anchorages.

“This is having cascading impacts for all vessel classes on freight and values across the world,” Bockmann said.

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队正在袭击更多船只，据称这些船只参与了将原油运过霍尔木兹海峡的穿梭运输行动。

2026年10月2日，船只停泊在阿曼穆桑达姆省哈萨卜海岸附近，靠近霍尔木兹海峡。[法新社]

伊朗德黑兰——伊朗当局已发出信号，他们打算破坏由阿拉伯国家运营、美国协助的穿梭运输系统。该系统在美以对伊朗的战争期间，使得更多能源能够通过霍尔木兹海峡出口。

由于美国对伊朗南部港口实施海上封锁，制裁不断收紧，德黑兰表示将采取军事和外交手段，向华盛顿施压，迫使其满足伊朗关于重新开放霍尔木兹海峡的要求。

（共3项，第1项）伊朗正在采取哪些新措施来应对美国的经济压力？

沙特阿拉伯称，东西输油管道日输油量为580万桶（共3条记录中的第2条）。

霍尔木兹号船只袭击事件激增（共 3 起）：石油出口增加是否可持续？

这条战略水道在战前曾是全球约五分之一石油和天然气的运输通道，自2月28日美国和以色列对伊朗发动袭击以来，由于伊朗的袭击，这条水道基本上已经对航运关闭。

但据报道，美国海军已开辟一条航线，以便海湾国家在能源危机期间出口石油和其他大宗商品。

伊朗安全局局长莫森·雷扎伊周日晚间回应称，该穿梭机系统现在是德黑兰的明确目标。

雷扎伊声称，美国中央司令部在阿联酋军方的协助下，利用小型船只将石油转运到大型油轮上。他还声称，伊朗已连续数周每晚袭击五六艘参与行动的船只。

“你们在走私，但海峡在伊朗的控制之下，我们负责管理它，”他断言道。

这似乎是对美国总统唐纳德·特朗普的嘲讽，他曾多次称赞近几周来能源出口已达到战前水平。

雷扎伊似乎暗示伊朗希望对霍尔木兹海峡拥有永久控制权，并承诺如果伊朗的能源和民用基础设施再次遭到攻击，将予以严厉回应。

他的威胁似乎针对阿拉伯地区国家，并警告称数字基础设施可能成为攻击目标。雷扎伊威胁要摧毁位于阿联酋和霍尔木兹海峡周边的与美国有关的海底电缆、数据中心和人工智能设施。

2026年9月28日，一名女子骑着摩托车经过伊朗最高领袖阿亚图拉·穆杰塔巴·哈梅内伊的广告牌前，该广告牌上摆放着伊朗佐勒菲卡尔导弹。[Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA]

雷扎伊还指责沙特阿拉伯帮助美国绕过伊朗的限制运输石油。但他没有威胁要对利雅得发动直接攻击——利雅得目前正遭受也门胡塞武装（与伊朗结盟）的袭击。

9月初，伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队威胁要袭击停泊在科威特和巴林港口和锚地的油轮，理由是美国袭击了伊朗油轮。伊朗指责这两个国家通过庇护美国军队而与美国勾结。

伊朗声称，美国接受了德黑兰提出的七项条件中的一部分，这些条件旨在全面重新开放霍尔木兹海峡并结束战争。但德黑兰坚称，只有在其所有要求都得到满足的情况下，协议才能最终达成。

危机组织高级伊朗分析师哈米德雷扎·阿齐兹表示，这反映出德黑兰方面显然认为，由于其在霍尔木兹海峡的施压具有全球影响，因此目前没有与美国达成协议的压力。

“然而，问题在于，考虑到对抗给伊朗自身带来的日益增长的经济成本，德黑兰是否高估了自己承受这种压力的能力，”阿齐兹在 X 上写道。

该系统涉及超大型原油运输船（VLCC）和小型船舶与美国军方协调，在阿拉伯港口装载原油，并使用阿曼海岸附近的南部通道驶出海峡。

为了最大限度地降低被伊朗方面盯上的风险，船只通常会关闭应答器并在夜间航行。在阿曼湾完成船对船转运后，一些接驳船会返回装载更多货物。

从周日到周一夜间，多艘船只成为袭击目标，其中包括两艘出港油轮和一艘停泊在阿曼港口城市苏哈尔附近锚地的油轮，据称那里正在进行船对船的货物转运。

上周其他船只也遭到炮弹袭击，这表明袭击已经蔓延到霍尔木兹海峡以外，目标是穿梭机系统。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队还不断宣扬这样一种说法：自战争开始以来，据信在霍尔木兹海峡布设的水雷对未经伊朗波斯湾海峡管理局协调而试图通过该水道的船只构成严重威胁。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队称，周末期间有三艘油轮触雷，遭受严重损坏。该组织还公布了一段据称触雷后起火的油轮视频，但视频中似乎并未显示水雷爆炸的迹象。

该穿梭系统为阿拉伯国家石油公司提供了一条经由阿曼附近南部走廊离开霍尔木兹的途径。

温德沃德公司驻伦敦的高级海事情报分析师米歇尔·维斯·博克曼表示，该系统已被证明非常有效。

博克曼告诉半岛电视台：“根据国际海事法，船舶享有所谓的过境通行权，而国际海事法是每年110亿吨海上贸易的基础。因此，阿曼的做法是允许船舶依据国际海事法过境，但他们得到了美国的军事援助。”

德黑兰方面表示，只要美国继续对伊朗实施窒息性的海上封锁，航运就会受到干扰。伊朗也加大了力度，以遏制阿拉伯国家出口石油的努力。据温沃德报道，截至目前，10月份至少有15艘船只遭到袭击。

博克曼说：“这条路线在促进石油和天然气运输方面变得越来越有效，伊朗对霍尔木兹海峡的影响力就越小，我们看到越来越多的船只使用这条南部走廊时遭到袭击。”

温沃德公司的数据显示，9月最后一周，每天有31艘船通过霍尔木兹海峡。这比战前的138艘船要少得多。

2026年第三季度，伊朗袭击的45艘船只中，87%是油轮。

据温沃德公司指出，约47%的船只属于海湾阿拉伯能源公司的本国船队，93%的袭击发生在霍尔木兹海峡。大多数袭击的目标是途经南部航道且应答器被关闭的船只。

这些袭击导致货运成本大幅上涨。据温德沃德公司称，货运成本占墨西哥湾原油成本的25%至30%，而战前这一比例仅为1%至3%。各国石油公司不得不提供比官方售价低至每桶35美元的折扣。

造成这一增长的主要原因是愿意进行危险航程的油轮短缺。约有15%至20%的超大型原油运输船（VLCC）被低效的物流系统所束缚，该系统依赖短途转运，而不断升级的袭击事件以及装货港和锚地的风险暴露又使情况更加复杂。

博克曼表示：“这将对全球所有船型的货运和价值产生连锁反应。”