Reported Attacks on Shipping Near Hormuz Hit a Record High
Twelve vessels reported being attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz between 5 and 11 October, the most in any week since the war began, with six struck last Sunday alone. Flows through the strait have fallen to about 12.6 million barrels a day, against 15 million at the end of September and roughly 17 million before the war.
The pattern has changed, not just the count. Martin Kelly of Orbital Risk Intelligence says Iran has “evolved its strategy” into “near daily or multiple attacks every single day” and is explicit about the purpose: “The aim here is to stop the ships going through and to deter others.” American naval escorting is up 85% in the first ten days of this month against the same period in August, and crossings still fell to 131 in the week to 14 October from 176. No major container line has resumed services through the strait since suspending them in February. The human cost is on the smaller vessels: eleven Indian seafarers were rescued from the tanker Petro Dolphin after a drone strike off Oman and two are still missing. Yemen is the other front, and it worsened overnight — the strike on the presidential palace in Aden has now killed five and wounded sixteen, according to the Yemeni health minister Qasim Buhaibeh, where the figures last night were two and four. United States Central Command says traffic “continues to flow… with co-ordinated protection”, which is the American military describing its own operation.