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Iran said Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had responded with a ballistic missile attack on a base used by U.S. forces near Al Azraq, in eastern Jordan, and had fired on two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers attempting to cross an area of the Strait of Hormuz that it has declared off limits.
The attacks in and around the vital waterway sent the price of oil surging, with the international Brent crude benchmark breaching $100 US a barrel for the first time since July. Since the war began, oil prices have been as low as $70, reflecting since-scuppered hopes that the U.S. and Iran would agree on a plan that would allow stranded tankers to move oil out of the Persian Gulf safely.
Escalating combat between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis that control most populated parts of Yemen has created additional uncertainty for energy markets. On Tuesday, the Houthis launched an attack on four cities in Saudi Arabia, causing huge fires at oil installations that were visible from space. Saudi authorities said 73 people were wounded.
American consumers have felt the pinch at the gas pumps, a politically sensitive issue with less than two months before November midterm elections that threaten Republican control of the Senate and House of Representatives.
A gallon of regular gasoline averaged $4.15 in the U.S. on Tuesday, up 26 per cent from a year ago, according to motor club AAA. Diesel, at $5.90 a gallon, cost 59 per cent more than the same day a year earlier.
“In our view, reaching a durable deal before the U.S. midterm elections is increasingly unlikely, and it could remain elusive even beyond that,” Bank of America analysts said in a Tuesday research note.
Average gas prices across Canada have also climbed since the start of the war, with increases between 25 and 40 per cent in most locations. The federal government announced an extension of the gas tax holiday as a result, until the end of January.
Iran reveals area of restricted maritime zone
The Americans said they destroyed five Iranian oil tankers overnight, releasing video of ships ablaze before they sank. The U.S. military’s Central Command called its attacks a response to the IRGC targeting a U.S. Navy warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days.
“Iran continues to try to hit U.S. naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
Iran says it is imposing a wider off-limits zone around the strait and using new, more capable missiles to attack U.S. ships.
U.S. Central Command says it carried out fresh strikes on Iran, claiming it was retaliation for Iran preparing to launch sea mines from rockets into the Strait of Hormuz. Andrew Chang digs deeper into what may be Iran’s novel ability to deploy underwater mines with missiles.
(Photo credits: The Canadian Press, CAT-UXO, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday a maritime restricted area would extend from Chabahar in Iran into parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, with its precise co-ordinates to be announced. The announcement follows comments Sunday by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who was quoted by state media as saying Iran would soon establish a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, a tanker carrying about two million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil was struck by a drone in Iraqi territorial waters on Wednesday, two Iraqi port officials told Reuters. It caused a fire aboard the Panama-flagged oil tanker New Andros, the port officials said, but there were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew members.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency had said earlier that vessels in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman were hit by disabling fire during military activity in the region overnight.
Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, according to a statement carried by state media.
Iran has largely choked off transit through the Strait of Hormuz that carried one-fifth of global oil before the war, as well as significant amounts of natural gas, fertilizer and other resources.
Washington has responded with a military blockade of Iranian ports, and says it has been able to guide many tankers through the strait, although independent monitors say the extent to which oil is escaping has become increasingly difficult to assess.
Preliminary data showed just six ships crossing with transponders over the last 24 hours.
Iran also said it had fired ballistic missiles at a base used by U.S. forces in Jordan.
Iran said that its missiles fired inflicted heavy damage, while Jordan said its air defences had intercepted 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas and no casualties.
Video filmed in Ash-Shajarah, in northern Jordan, and verified by Reuters showed flashes lighting up the night sky.
Iran has targeted U.S. bases in the region throughout the war and killed at least two U.S. military personnel in a strike on Jordan in July.
