Tanker owners and charterers face a sharper Gulf risk premium after attacks on three commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz triggered U.S. strikes on more than 80 Iranian targets, according to U.S. Central Command.
CENTCOM identified the vessels as the Marshall Islands-flagged M/T Al Rekayyat, the Saudi Arabia-flagged M/T Wedyan and the Liberian-flagged M/T Cyprus Prosperity.
The strikes hit Iranian air defence systems, command-and-control networks, coastal radar sites, anti-ship missile capabilities and more than 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small boats in and near the strait.
The shipping impact was immediate. UK Maritime Trade Operations issued two July 7 warnings involving tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. One tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile and was believed to have sustained structural damage, with no casualties or environmental impact. A second tanker was hit by an unknown uncrewed aerial vehicle at 1305 UTC, sustained minor structural damage and continued to its next port of call.
The disruption tightened vessel supply through the key energy corridor. Around 16 vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the lowest level in nearly three weeks, compared with 25 to 40 ships per day over the previous week and about 125 sailings per day before the conflict.
Freight rates followed the security risk higher. Average daily rates to load a ship inside the Gulf rose to almost $300,000 from below $200,000 last week. Oil prices rose nearly 6% in post-market activity, while Brent crude approached $76 per barrel.
Qatar’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on Al Rekayyat as an attack on a Qatari tanker and summoned Iran’s deputy ambassador, Mohsen Mohammad Qanei. Ibrahim bin Yousef Fakhro, director of protocol, handed him a protest note seeking urgent explanations and steps to prevent a repeat.
Iran rejected Qatar’s accusation. Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei called the allegation questionable and unacceptable, and pointed to commercial vessels sailing on routes not coordinated with Iran or interfering with AIS or GPS systems.
Iranian military bodies claimed missile and drone strikes on 85 points at U.S. military facilities at Salman Port, the U.S. Fifth Fleet area in Bahrain and Ali Al Salem air base in Kuwait, as well as the downing of an MQ-9 drone. Iranian army drones also targeted U.S. force concentrations at Sheikh Isa base in Bahrain. The escalation came alongside a U.S. sanctions move.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control revoked Iran-related General License X and issued General License X1, winding down a June 21 authorization covering the production, delivery and sale of Iranian-origin crude oil, petrochemical products and petroleum products.