Strait of Hormuz Status Today: Ship Attacks Hit Record High in October as Tankers Burn and War Fears Mount

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Attacks on commercial ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz reached a record high in October. The world's most important oil shipping lane remains largely shut, and fears of a wider war are growing.

The strait, a narrow passage between Iran and Oman, normally carries about a fifth of the world's seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas. Traffic has collapsed since the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran began Feb. 28.

Record month for attacks

"October has seen the highest number of ship attacks on record," Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Reuters.

The institute, which has tracked attacks since 2017, recorded 28 confirmed and reported attacks in October and 113 since the war began. Most of the September and October attacks happened in the strait itself.

The International Maritime Organization recorded 120 incidents in the strait and wider Middle East since the start of the conflict. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency, which monitors shipping security, counted 135 conflict-related incidents as of Oct. 16. It said its figures likely understate the problem because reporting by shippers is voluntary.

Greek risk consultancy Marisks called October "the most intense period of maritime attacks in and around the Strait of Hormuz." It said a dozen ships were attacked from Oct. 5 to 11, the highest weekly total of the conflict.

Supertankers damaged

More than 30 very large crude carriers, supertankers that each carry about 2 million barrels of oil, have been damaged in attacks, according to a Reuters review of IMO and MarineTraffic data. Eleven of them were hit in October alone. Together, the damaged ships make up about 3.5% of the global supertanker fleet.

Iranian state television reported overnight Thursday that seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in the strait. It said they were hit by Iran or struck naval mines. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the claims. Iranian state media also said two supertankers struck mines and that their crews abandoned ship. No maritime authority has confirmed that incident.

UKMTO separately reported that a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the strait on Oct. 22.

An oil spill from the tanker attacks has reached beaches in the United Arab Emirates, Euronews reported.

Traffic near a standstill

Ship traffic remains a fraction of normal. The IMF's PortWatch recorded four transits on Oct. 18, compared with a pre-war average of about 85 a day.

Despite the danger, some shipowners are still loading cargo inside the Gulf. Reuters reported that daily freight rates above $1 million and steep discounts from regional producers are drawing ships in.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have moved some exports through pipelines to ports on the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. That capacity falls well short of the strait's normal flow.

Pressure ahead of US elections

Raydan said Iran appears to be stepping up attacks to slow the recovery in shipments and keep pressure on energy markets ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections. Reuters previously reported, citing two senior Iranian officials, that Tehran was adopting such tactics.

President Donald Trump accused Tehran of staging attacks to influence the midterms, The Jerusalem Post reported. Trump has also warned of further strikes on Iran if it does not reach a deal with Washington.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy has threatened to strike U.S. military bases in the region if the United States keeps helping guide commercial ships through the strait. Iranian Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei said the strait will remain closed until Iran's conditions are met, according to Iranian media.

Diplomacy stalled

Iran has floated a proposal to end the war and fully reopen the strait within a week if the U.S. meets several conditions, including lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Similar terms were part of a June agreement that collapsed within days.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said this week that Tehran remains open to diplomacy but is ready to defend itself. Mediators are trying to restart formal talks.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending a third aircraft carrier and thousands of additional troops to the region.

Analysts also warn of a possible Israeli strike on Iran after Israel's Oct. 27 election.

"Netanyahu wants to attack Iran, that's not even a question," said Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies and a former Iran specialist in Israeli military intelligence. He said the region is heading toward "another kinetic escalation."

Oil prices climb

The renewed attacks have pushed oil prices higher. Brent crude, the international benchmark, settled near $117 a barrel Friday, up more than 3% on the day and about 17% higher than a month ago.

Brent first passed $100 in March, in the war's opening weeks, and peaked at $126.

A long crisis

The crisis has gone through repeated cycles of ceasefires and breakdowns. These include an April truce, a June peace memorandum signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and a July collapse that led the U.S. to reimpose its blockade and Iran to declare the strait closed again.

Thousands of seafarers have been stranded on ships trapped inside the Gulf. Iran has also warned it could widen its targets to infrastructure such as undersea cables and data centers.