Children swim while a ship is anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran, on August 10, 2026.
Ali Saidi | Getty Images
An oil tanker was hit by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, Britain’s Maritime and Trade Authority said in a post on Thursday, the latest in a series of sporadic attacks that have kept ships away from the vital energy corridor.
UKMTO said the incident was reported off the coast of Oman on Tuesday, adding that the fire that broke out has been extinguished and all crew members are reported to be safe, with an investigation underway.
Traffic through Hormuz has been trending downward this week and remains well below pre-war levels, despite US efforts to help escort ships along the Omani side of the strait. Last week, a cargo ship sailing through the waterway was attacked, killing its crew.
Only five ships were confirmed to have passed Tuesday, down from seven the day before, and before the war, more than 130 ships were sunk per day, Kupler said. Tracking companies said all five routes used unilateral routes designated by Iran for shipments.
Separately, US allies are skeptical whether the strait has been completely cleared of Iranian mines, casting doubt on President Donald Trump’s claims that the waterway is safe to travel through, Bloomberg reported.
The report was released after President Trump said Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz has been completely cleared of mines and is a “functioning strait.”
“Yes, we do get drone shots and rockets and things like that from time to time, but this strait is very functional. There’s a lot of oil coming out,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Iran and Oman agreed on a temporary maritime corridor aimed at restoring safer passage through the strait. However, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi warned that the waterway would not fully reopen until the US fulfilled its commitments under the framework of an interim peace agreement signed in June, which has now expired.
The U.S. military maintains a naval blockade against Iranian shipping at key choke points and escorts oil tankers to and from the Gulf using shipping lanes south of Oman.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a diplomatic outreach following the US sanctions campaign against Iran’s economy, called on the United Nations and member governments to condemn what he called US “economic terrorism”, arguing that the UN has a “legal and moral responsibility” to condemn the sanctions campaign as “illegal and criminal”.
