Three commercial tankers were struck by projectiles and a drone in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and Tuesday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The Qatari-flagged liquefied natural gas carrier Al Rekayyat caught fire after being hit off the coast of Oman, while a Saudi-flagged crude tanker, the Wedyan, sustained structural damage. A third vessel suffered minor damage from a drone strike. No crew casualties were reported. Iranian state television, citing anonymous sources, said the Al Rekayyat had ignored warnings, but Tehran issued no official claim of responsibility.

Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned the attack as an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security, holding Iran “fully legally responsible.” Iranian military authorities had warned the previous week that all tankers must use routes approved by Tehran, and that any interference by US forces would provoke a “rapid and decisive reaction.” The US-backed Joint Maritime Information Center, however, advised shippers that the route near Oman’s coastline “has been expanded and remains available for all traffic.” Speaking at the White House, President Donald Trump said Iran must “make a deal, or we’re going to finish the job,” while expressing a preference for a negotiated settlement. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi separately stated that negotiations with Washington would not resume until Israel halts military operations in Lebanon and withdraws its forces.

The attacks place immediate strain on a 60-day memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran that had reopened the strait to toll-free commercial traffic after the conflict that began on 28 February. The waterway normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and gas, and any disruption risks global energy market instability. Previous strikes on vessels using routes not approved by Iran triggered US retaliatory strikes, which in turn led to Iranian attacks on Gulf Arab states. The latest incidents occurred during a six-day mourning period for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose funeral processions have paused formal negotiations.

The core dispute centres on Iran’s insistence that it should control and charge fees for passage through the strait, a position rejected by the United States and Gulf Arab states as a violation of long-standing norms of free navigation. Oman has reportedly proposed a scheme to monetise traffic for both Iran and itself, but Washington has called such fees “unacceptable.” Talks in Doha involving US and Iranian negotiators, with Qatari and Pakistani mediators, were expected to resume after Khamenei’s burial in Mashhad. However, the new attacks and Iran’s linkage of the nuclear and shipping dossier to the Israel-Lebanon conflict have cast uncertainty over the next round of diplomacy.