Iran's IRGC Attacks Giant Tanker Over 'Illegal' Route in Strait of Hormuz

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it attacked a giant tanker that was trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz through what it called an illegal route on Friday, October 9, 2026. In a statement carried by local media and quoted by AFP, the IRGC identified the vessel as the NV Sunshine, a very large LPG carrier owned by the company NatWit, which it said was attempting to pass along a route south of the strait. The force also asserted that Iranian troops have taken over management of the waterway, with Tehran insisting that every ship must first obtain permission to use the routes it has designated since the blockade began.

Maritime traffic monitors logged a separate incident the same day. Britain's UK Maritime Trade Operations reported that a vessel about 13 nautical miles, or roughly 24 kilometers, off Al Jazeera Al Hamra in the United Arab Emirates, southwest of the Strait of Hormuz, was struck by a projectile that set it on fire. UKMTO said the condition of the crew, an assessment of damage and any environmental impact were not yet known, and that authorities were investigating.

British maritime security firm Vanguard reported a similar case and named the targeted ship as the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker GEM NO 2. The back-to-back incidents came only days after another tanker was attacked off Qatar, roughly 500 kilometers west of the strait.

Shipping in the Gulf and vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz have been repeatedly targeted since the United States and Israel triggered a war in the Middle East in late February 2026. Iran has kept its blockade of the strait in place — a closure it announced with the blockade from July 12, 2026 — yet an increasing number of ships are still taking the risk of using alternative routes along the southern coast of the strategic passage. US media have previously reported that American military forces were working to protect vessels using the southern route, and Washington has responded with a counter-blockade of Iranian ports, at times firing on ships affiliated with Tehran.

The strait remains central to the global economy: before the war broke out, about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies passed through its waters.