Three commercial tankers were struck in the Strait of Hormuz between Monday evening and Tuesday morning, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and US officials. The Qatari-flagged liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Al Rekayyat was hit by a projectile on its port side, igniting a fire in the engine room; its crew issued a mayday call and were evacuated safely. A Saudi-flagged crude tanker, the Wedyan, also sustained damage off the Omani coast, while a third vessel was struck by an unidentified drone, suffering minor structural harm. No casualties were reported, but the incidents mark the first time a Qatari LNG vessel has been targeted since the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran began on 28 February.

Iranian state television, citing unnamed sources, stated that the Al Rekayyat was attacked after ignoring warnings, implying without formally claiming responsibility that Iranian forces carried out the strike. Tehran’s joint military command had warned the previous week that all tankers transiting the strait must use routes approved by Iran, and that any interference by US forces would “be met with a rapid and decisive reaction.” Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned the attack as “an unacceptable attack on the security of international navigation and global energy supplies” and said it holds Iran “fully legally responsible.” Viewed from Washington, a US official confirmed the strikes to Fox News, while the US Navy-overseen Joint Maritime Information Center had advised shippers that the southern route near Oman remained open, setting up a direct clash over navigational control of the waterway.

The attacks threaten to unravel the 60-day memorandum of understanding signed in June, which suspended hostilities and allowed toll-free passage through the strait. They also disrupt the tentative resumption of Qatari LNG exports, a sector that had been largely paralysed since the war’s outset. European benchmark gas prices rose as much as 6% on the news, and Brent crude futures advanced, reversing some of the recent decline driven by expectations of normalising traffic. The incidents revive a pattern seen earlier in the conflict: Iranian strikes on vessels using the US-backed route have previously triggered American retaliatory strikes on Iranian missile and radar sites, which in turn prompted Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab states.

Negotiations between the US and Iran, mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, are currently paused during the six-day mourning period for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose funeral processions have drawn crowds chanting for the death of President Trump. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump warned that Iran must “make a deal, or we’re going to finish the job.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, stated on Tuesday that talks will not resume until Israel halts military operations in Lebanon and withdraws its forces, linking the Hormuz dossier to the wider regional conflict. The UKMTO is investigating the incidents and has advised vessels to transit with caution. The next round of US-Iran talks had been expected after Khamenei’s burial, but the latest strikes inject fresh uncertainty into a diplomatic track already strained by competing claims over the strait’s governance.