Iran Fires on Containership, Tanker and Cruise Ship Saying Hormuz is Closed
Iranian officials on Saturday reversed the previous statements and once again declared the Strait of Hormuz is closed, along with renewing their strict conditions. Several ships are reporting they were fired upon, while others said they were told the Strait is closed and were forced to turn back from their attempts to exit the Persian Gulf.
The monitoring operation UKMTO (UK Maritime Trade Operations) has received reports of a series of incidents taking place on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz. An unidentified containership reported that it was struck by a projectile while it was sailing 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman in the Strait. The report says that containers were damaged, but there was no fire, and the crew was not injured.
This incident happened after an unidentified tanker also reported that it had been attacked. Two IRGC gunboats approached the tanker and opened fire with no VHF contact or challenge. The crew and vessel reported no damage.
UKMTO also received a report from a cruise ship of a “splash” near the ships as they were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Yesterday, two cruise ships operated by Celestyal Cruises made it out of the Persian Gulf without incident. Two cruise ships from Germany’s TUI Group, Mein Schiff 4 and Mein Schiff 5, along with MSC Cruises’ MSC Euribia, were showing on AIS as sailing together in Omani waters as they were exiting the Persian Gulf. A total of five cruise ships were attempting to escape the Persian Gulf.
Iranian officials accused the United States of violations of the ceasefire and negotiations. Yesterday, Iran said the Strait would be open to all traffic for the remainder of the ceasefire. Today, they announced that because the United States continues to blockade its ships and ports, the Strait will be immediately closed.
“Two Indian vessels were forced back west out of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran's Sepah (IRGC) Navy,” reports TankerTrackers.com in a social media posting. “Firing was involved. One of the vessels is an Indian-flagged VLCC supertanker carrying two million barrels of Iraqi oil.”
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The latter reports, apparently coming from the hardliners in Iran, said they would continue to assert total control and require all ships to receive permission from the IRCG and that the ships would be subject to inspections. Iran also reported its assertion that it will charge a toll for all ships to transit the Strait.
This came after Trump reported the Strait was open and typed “thank you” to the Iranians on social media. He continues to assert that "It's working out very well," referencing the blockade and the negotiations. He asserted they were close to further announcements after there were reports of a new round of negotiations scheduled for Monday.