US and Iran both claim control of Strait of Hormuz amid attacks on vessels

Two vessels have been struck with naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz this week.

A vessel transits the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Khor Fakkan in the emirate of Sharjah, eastern UAE, on October 13, 2026 [AFP]

Tehran, Iran – Dozens of ships were attacked in or near the Strait of Hormuz in October as Iran and the United States compete to assert their authority over the waterway.

At least 12 ships were attacked in the week ending on October 16, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported late Friday, with one important caveat.

list 1 of 3 Fighting in Yemen intensifies: What’s the latest on the battlefield?

list 2 of 3 Iraq devalues dinar to ease cash crunch, leaving traders in limbo

list 3 of 3 Containers and debris captured floating around the Strait of Hormuz

“UKMTO is struggling to accurately report true number of attacks with majority of vessels attacked refusing to report to UKMTO,” the maritime security organisation stated. It said it was aware of more incidents in the waterway via other sources but could not verify them due to a lack of information.

The same pattern has been true for the first half of October. The month has seen the highest number of ship attacks since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28.

Of the 12 vessels that were confirmed attacked, the organisation said half continued to their destination or reached port. One sank, two were disabled, and three were either damaged or had an unconfirmed outcome.

The UKMTO also reported a new type of attack on Saturday. The master of a tanker said their vessel was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired from a small boat 78 nautical miles (equivalent to about 144km) northeast of Saudi Arabia’s city of Jubail, Eastern province, resulting in damage to the aft port quarter.

In recent months, the US has managed to increase energy transits through the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waterways through a shuttle system coordinated with Arab powers . But volumes have oscillated weekly due to rising Iranian attacks.

Oil flows through Hormuz were at 11.6 million barrels per day (bpd) over the seven days to October 13. This was about 68 percent of the 17.1 million bpd pre-war baseline, according to Kpler figures.

On Friday, Brent crude also touched $110 a barrel for the first time since May in light of ongoing attacks. The situation has been exacerbated by the Iran-aligned Houthis’ attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and their capture of the Bab al-Mandeb strait. Expectations that the conflict between the US and Iran was escalating have also impacted prices.

The US military has provided a starkly different outlook on the situation in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which accounted for roughly a fifth of global oil and natural gas flows before the war began.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Brad Cooper claimed in a video message late Friday that despite the Iranian attacks, 400 ships and 100 million barrels of oil moved through the Strait of Hormuz over the past week.

“Let me be clear: The Strait of Hormuz is controlled by the United States and our regional partners, not Iran,” he said, attributing the greatly increased ship attacks to “desperation” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The US military also claimed that it continues to prevent Iranian exports and imports via its southern ports through an “ironclad” naval blockade . It claims the blockade has cost Iran $25bn in oil export income, and that the US has recently seized $350m in Iranian cryptocurrency financing.

The UKMTO report said total outbound transit over the last seven days was 125 ships, with total inbound transits standing at 129. Over the week, most transits by the Western security agency were for dry bulk cargo, followed by tanker products and general cargo.

Tehran has not provided exact figures on how many vessels have been attacked, or how many are passing through the Hormuz, although it has said Washington is exaggerating numbers to project success of its naval campaign.

It comes as two vessels were reportedly hit by naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz this week, with the US and Iran offering contradictory claims about the situation.

The IRGC has increasingly reported that vessels are hitting mines across the strategic waterway, which it says remains unsafe for vessels which do not coordinate with Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority, an entity set up during the war to manage passage through the Hormuz.

The latest claim came on Saturday, when the IRGC said a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil caught fire after striking a mine while moving through an “unauthorised” route.

The Panama-flagged container shipping vessel Ten Neptune transits the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Khor Fakkan in the emirate of Sharjah, eastern UAE, on October 13, 2026 [AFP]

Iran’s state-run Press TV shared footage it says showed the tanker on fire. But CENTCOM said it had cleared the strait of naval mines, and that vessels are being struck by projectiles.

The latest incident “fact-checked” by the US military was on Thursday, when it said a civilian container ship, the M/V GFS Pride, was hit by an IRGC projectile, not by a mine as the Iranians had claimed. The vessel sank as it was being towed to shore.

The US has refrained from responding to any of the recent vessel attacks, but there are concerns that Washington could escalate the war after the November 3 midterm elections.

Diplomacy has not fully halted, with messages continuing to be relayed between the two parties by regional mediators like Pakistan, Qatar and others. But no breakthrough in talks is expected any time soon.

President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the US military to remain prepared for launching bigger attacks after the elections. Those attacks could potentially include using the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, nicknamed the “mother of all bombs” , according to US media.

But Tehran has signalled that it intends to continue the attacks, with acting Defence Minister Majid Ibn Reza saying on Saturday that it will be Iranian missiles, not US bombs, that determine the future of the war.

“Your bombs will explode elsewhere; in your global reputation, the US economy, and even your electoral calculations,” he was quoted as saying by state media.

本周，两艘船只在霍尔木兹海峡触雷沉没。

2026 年 10 月 13 日，一艘船只在阿联酋东部沙迦酋长国 Khor Fakkan 海岸附近穿越阿曼湾 [法新社]

伊朗德黑兰——10 月份，数十艘船只在霍尔木兹海峡及其附近海域遭到袭击，伊朗和美国正在争夺对该水道的控制权。

英国海事贸易行动处（UKMTO）周五晚间发布报告称，截至 10 月 16 日的一周内，至少有 12 艘船只遭到袭击，但有一点重要的注意事项。

也门战事升级：战场最新进展如何？（共 3 条，第 1 条）

伊拉克第纳尔贬值以缓解现金短缺，令交易商陷入困境（共3条，此为第2条）

霍尔木兹海峡附近捕获的漂浮集装箱和碎片清单（共3个，此为第3个）

“英国海事安全组织UKMTO难以准确报告袭击事件的真实数量，因为大多数遇袭船只拒绝向UKMTO报告，”该海事安全组织表示。该组织称，他们通过其他渠道了解到该水道上还发生了更多事件，但由于缺乏信息，无法核实。

10月上半月的情况也类似。自2月28日美以对伊朗发动战争以来，10月份发生的船只袭击事件数量最多。

该组织表示，在已确认遭到袭击的12艘船只中，一半继续驶往目的地或抵达港口。一艘沉没，两艘失去动力，三艘受损或结果不明。

英国海上交通管理局（UKMTO）周六还报告了一种新型袭击事件。一艘油轮的船长称，他们的船只在沙特阿拉伯东部省份朱拜勒市东北78海里（约144公里）处，遭到一艘小艇发射的火箭推进榴弹（RPG）袭击，导致船尾左舷受损。

近几个月来，美国通过与阿拉伯国家协调的穿梭系统，增加了经由霍尔木兹海峡及其周边水道的能源运输量。但由于伊朗袭击事件的增加，运输量每周都在波动。

截至 10 月 13 日的七天内，霍尔木兹港的石油日流量为 1160 万桶。根据 Kpler 的数据，这大约是战前 1710 万桶/日基准流量的 68%。

受持续不断的袭击影响，布伦特原油价格周五也触及每桶110美元，创下5月以来的新高。伊朗支持的胡塞武装袭击沙特能源基础设施并占领曼德海峡，加剧了局势的紧张。市场预期美伊冲突将升级，也对油价造成了影响。

美国军方对霍尔木兹海峡及其周边地区的局势提出了截然不同的看法。在战争爆发前，霍尔木兹海峡约占全球石油和天然气流量的五分之一。

美国中央司令部司令布拉德·库珀在周五晚些时候发布的一段视频信息中声称，尽管伊朗发动了袭击，但过去一周仍有 400 艘船只和 1 亿桶石油通过霍尔木兹海峡。

“我要明确指出：霍尔木兹海峡由美国和我们的地区伙伴控制，而不是由伊朗控制，”他说道，并将船只袭击事件的大幅增加归咎于伊斯兰革命卫队（IRGC）的“绝望”。

美国军方还声称，它继续通过“铁腕”海上封锁阻止伊朗经由其南部港口的进出口贸易。美方称，封锁已使伊朗损失250亿美元的石油出口收入，并且美国最近查获了3.5亿美元的伊朗加密货币融资。

英国海运运输办公室（UKMTO）的报告称，过去七天共有125艘船舶出港，129艘船舶入港。本周，西方安全机构统计的大部分过境货物为干散货，其次是油轮产品和普通货物。

德黑兰方面没有提供被袭击船只的确切数字，也没有提供正在通过霍尔木兹海峡的船只数量，尽管它曾表示华盛顿夸大了数字，以展现其海军行动的成功。

据报道，本周霍尔木兹海峡有两艘船只触雷，美国和伊朗对此事分别发表了相互矛盾的说法。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队不断报告称，船只在这条战略水道上触雷，并表示，对于不与伊朗波斯湾海峡管理局协调的船只来说，这条水道仍然不安全。该机构是在战争期间成立的，负责管理霍尔木兹海峡的通行。

伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队周六发表最新声明称，一艘载有超过 200 万桶原油的超级油轮在驶过一条“未经授权”的路线时撞上地雷，随后起火。

2026 年 10 月 13 日，悬挂巴拿马国旗的集装箱船“海王星十号”在阿联酋东部沙迦酋长国霍尔法坎海岸附近的阿曼湾过境 [法新社]

伊朗官方电视台Press TV发布了一段据称显示油轮起火的视频。但美国中央司令部表示，他们已经清除了海峡中的水雷，并且船只正在遭到炮弹袭击。

美国军方最新一次“核实”的事件发生在周四，当时军方表示，一艘名为“GFS Pride”号的民用集装箱船是被伊朗伊斯兰革命卫队发射的炮弹击中，而不是像伊朗方面声称的那样被水雷击中。该船在被拖往岸边的过程中沉没。

美国一直没有对最近发生的任何船只袭击事件作出回应，但人们担心华盛顿可能会在11月3日中期选举后升级战争。

外交努力并未完全停止，巴基斯坦、卡塔尔等地区调解人仍在双方之间传递信息。但预计短期内谈判不会取得突破。

据报道，唐纳德·特朗普总统已下令美军做好在大选后发动更大规模袭击的准备。美国媒体称，这些袭击可能包括使用GBU-43/B巨型空爆炸弹，这种炸弹被戏称为“炸弹之母”。

但德黑兰方面已表示将继续发动袭击，代理国防部长马吉德·伊本·礼萨周六表示，决定战争未来走向的将是伊朗导弹，而不是美国炸弹。

据官方媒体报道，他表示：“你的炸弹会在其他地方爆炸；在你的国际声誉、美国经济，甚至你的选举计划中都会爆炸。”