Theme: Strait of Hormuz

Sub-Saharan Africa's liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports are set to grow nearly 175% to 98 billion cubic meters in 2034 from 35.7 billion in 2024, according to Fitch, as buyers flee the Strait of Hormuz. The African Energy Chamber projects about US$ 40 billion a year in exploration and production investment through 2030, lifting the continent's hydrocarbon output to 12.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. In Mozambique, TotalEnergies' US$ 20 billion LNG project, with capacity of 13.1 million tonnes per year, resumed construction in January after the end of a four-and-a-half-year force majeure and is about 45% complete.

The Cheonghae unit, currently in the Gulf of Aden, will have its area of operation extended northeast to waters south of Oman, in the Arabian Sea, officials told The Korea Herald, roughly doubling its radius to about 1,930 kilometers. The expansion adds 75 troops to the unit, bringing its strength to 395. A Defense Ministry official said operations will stay limited to open waters south of Oman and that the P-8A maritime patrol aircraft will be barred from watching Iranian territory or waters or the interior of the Strait of Hormuz. The government plans to send the revised mandate motion to the National Assembly after Cabinet endorsement next week, and South Korean law requires parliamentary consent to expand overseas missions.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said that three oil tankers struck naval mines and caught fire while navigating “unauthorized” routes through the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Tasnim news agency, which cited a statement from the force’s public relations office. According to the statement, the explosions occurred in the early hours of Tuesday and the ships, abandoned near the southern shores of the strait, remained engulfed in flames that illuminated the eastern section through the night. The Guard warned that ships disregarding the rules and cooperating with the US military to cross unauthorized routes could face similar incidents. On Monday, Iran’s Navy had already announced that an oil tanker had struck a mine and caught fire in an area described as prohibited and unsafe east of the strait.

QatarEnergy signed a 20-year agreement to buy 3 million metric tons per year of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Woodside Energy’s facilities in Louisiana and, a week earlier, struck deals with Cheniere for up to 4 million tons per year through 2054, according to Reuters, in a text republished by gCaptain. Deliveries under the contracts begin in 2030 and 2031 and will make Qatar the largest buyer of US LNG. Unlike its neighbors, the small Gulf state has no viable route for exporting LNG other than the Strait of Hormuz. QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi told Reuters he expects to sign additional supply agreements with US and other producers this year. The company declared force majeure on LNG supplies in March, after the war with Iran led to the blockade of Hormuz and attacks on its Ras Laffan facilities; the measure runs through December.

Major General Esmaeil Ghaani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, said that resistance forces have formed a united front against the aggressors, namely the United States and the Zionist regime in the region. “Otherwise, you will end up fighting a war with weapons in the Strait of Hormuz while facing the opening of the Bab el-Mandeb by the Resistance,” he said. According to Ghaani, US President Donald Trump gambled on war with Iran after being misled by Netanyahu, and the outcome was the loss of America’s 250-year reputation and its defeat in the Strait of Hormuz.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz cost Europe 127 billion euros in higher fossil fuel prices, Ursula von der Leyen said at an event in Brussels. In the same speech, she argued that imported fossil fuels had cost Europe 127 billion euros more “without bringing one extra molecule of energy”. About a fifth of the oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported by sea worldwide passed through Hormuz before the US-Israeli attack on Iran in late February, which led Tehran to effectively shut the strategic waterway.

Bloomberg reported plans by Abu Dhabi's state oil company, Adnoc, for a third pipeline from the western coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Fujairah that could supply Asian customers and bypass Hormuz. The existing pipeline, Habshan–Fujairah, has run since 2012 with a capacity of 1.5 million barrels a day, expandable to 1.8 million, and a second, the West-East pipeline, is expected to start operating in 2027. Adnoc told Bloomberg the report was not accurate and “purely speculative”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said four oil tankers caught fire after hitting naval sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said two of the vessels were still burning and that two additional tankers were intercepted trying to use a prohibited southern route in the strait. BBC Verify investigated the claims and has not found any evidence that four tankers were destroyed. In a separate incident, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center said a tanker was struck by two unknown projectiles about 14 nautical miles (26 km) northeast of Limah, in Oman’s Musandam peninsula, on Tuesday evening, with no casualties reported. The IRGC also said it had shot down another US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil and gas shipments usually pass, has been effectively closed since the start of the Iran war, because of Iranian attacks on commercial vessels and the US naval blockade.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says that four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz, with two still burning and two additional vessels seized for trying to use a prohibited southern route. Trump confirmed that the US struck Iran on Tuesday targeting an anti-aircraft facility, an attack US officials described as limited and defensive, in response to IRGC fire on a US aircraft; the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported projectiles in a tanker’s engine room off Limah, Oman, with no casualties, and the IRGC account could not be independently verified or linked to that incident.

Brent crude returned to trade at US$ 103.60 per barrel and WTI at US$ 95.98, according to OilPrice, after benchmarks fell to a four-week low on reports that Iran may be open to discussing previously non-negotiable issues. According to Vortexa data, combined exports of crude oil, condensates and fuels through the Strait of Hormuz averaged 17.1 million barrels per day in October, down from 18.9 million barrels per day in September. The consultancy Rystad Energy said it did not expect oil flows out of the Persian Gulf to return to normal any time soon, even if the United States and Iran reach an agreement to end the war.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that the US response to Iran’s seven conditions was not convincing and that the Strait of Hormuz will only reopen if Washington fully meets the demands. The indirect talks center on an Iranian proposal to reopen the waterway over two days if the United States meets the seven demands, including the lifting of sanctions and an end to the US naval blockade. Four oil tankers were destroyed after striking naval mines south of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who also said two other vessels were halted. The statement did not identify the vessels, their owners, flags, cargoes or the exact location, and there was no immediate independent confirmation of the attacks. The Guards also said they shot down a US MQ-9 drone over the strait, the 56th by their count, a claim that could not be independently verified. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that two unidentified projectiles struck a tanker’s engine room about 14 nautical miles northeast of Oman’s coastal village of Limah, with no casualties reported. US media, citing US officials, reported that Central Command had prepared plans for strikes that could begin as early as Wednesday, after the midterm elections, when three American aircraft carriers would be in the region.

Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the United States launched strikes on Iran, saying the target was a newly completed anti-aircraft facility, hit the previous night, in a minor attack. Trump said US forces stand ready to act, but that there may be no reason for further action. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the government is still trying to resolve the crisis through dialogue and that no one will benefit if war reignites, while negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the Islamic Republic stands ready for battle. An Israeli military spokesperson said Israel was not involved in the latest strikes. Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said both sides are reviewing the proposals presented by Doha and that there is still a chance for an interim deal. A senior Iranian official said Tehran stands ready to reopen Hormuz within two days if Washington accepts its list of demands.

The November contract of the Dubai benchmark traded at the start of this week at a discount of about $2 per barrel to the December contract, traders and brokers told Bloomberg — the first time the Dubai curve has slipped into contango since July. Contango, a structure in which contracts dated further out are worth more than prompt ones, indicates that concern about an immediate lack of crude has eased. Physical flows had been rising for two months, with Gulf producers accelerating ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman once tankers clear Hormuz. Rising Middle East supply has weakened both Dubai and Murban prices and increased buying from Asian refiners, especially in India, which preferred additional Middle Eastern cargoes to more expensive Russian barrels with higher freight costs.

US officials acknowledged having launched strikes on the Iranian island of Qeshm, in the Strait of Hormuz, and told CBS, the BBC’s US partner, that the operation was limited and responded to fire from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) at a US aircraft. Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported several explosions on the island on Monday. According to The New York Times, US Central Command (Centcom) has a plan to strike Iran as early as Wednesday, after the midterm elections, when three aircraft carriers will be in the region. Some cabinet members want more time for sanctions and a US blockade, saying that economic pressure would eventually bring down Iran’s government; other officials see little prospect of its collapse without further strikes. Trump told Axios he was in no rush: “Either way, we will do something, but there is no rush. We have weakened them financially.” In an interview with Fox News, he said the US “may need to strike Pickaxe,” a site linked to Iran’s nuclear program.

A tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles northeast of Lima, Oman, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which said in its first update that no casualties or environmental impact had been reported. India’s foreign ministry said an unidentified aerial object struck a commercial ship off Oman on Monday and killed an Indian national; 13 other people were rescued, according to the ministry. Over the eight months of the US and Israeli war on Iran, about two dozen seafarers have been killed in attacks on more than 120 commercial ships in Hormuz.

Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear program if the US lifts its naval blockade on Iranian ports, waives sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observes a ceasefire, including in Lebanon. Parliament speaker and chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said the country had delivered a “firm and rational response” to the Americans and that it is now up to Washington to prevent war. The head of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said the US response to Tehran’s demands was not convincing and that the strait will not reopen until the US addresses Iran’s conditions. Iran opened its third military training center in Tehran and announced plans to train 1 million paramilitary volunteers nationwide. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi called on Iran and the US to negotiate an agreement and warned against further military escalation in the region. US military cargo aircraft departing from Fort Bliss were tracked arriving at bases in Israel in recent days, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Iranian media reported on Tuesday night, citing unnamed sources, that shots had been fired toward vessels allegedly violating restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran International. The Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, had earlier reported sounds of gunfire in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik, citing accounts from local residents.

Crude oil exports from Persian Gulf producers averaged nearly 12 million barrels per day in September and the first 20 days of October, below the pre-war level of approximately 18 million bpd, Rystad Energy estimated. The consultancy assesses that the security situation in and near the Strait of Hormuz has deteriorated even as flows recovered, with a higher number of attacks on tankers in recent weeks. In Rystad’s view, a comprehensive settlement between the United States (US) and Iran would require addressing Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions, Tehran-backed armed groups in the region and the security of maritime shipping, while also taking into account Israel’s security interests.

President Donald Trump confirmed that US forces struck Iran on Monday night, at a target he described as a “minor attack” on an anti-aircraft facility. “They built an anti-aircraft facility… As soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely,” he said in a Fox News interview. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency also reported several explosions on Qeshm Island, near the entrance to the strait. The US deliberately kept the attacks quiet to reduce the risk of escalation, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the strikes, and one US official described the strikes as “defensive.” According to that report, in one exchange the Revolutionary Guard fired a surface-to-air missile at a US warplane, which fired back in self-defense, and another strike came after the US intercepted a missile fired from Qeshm at a commercial vessel. Iran said it downed a US MQ-9 Reaper drone and two Lucas drones near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.

No official English text of the Iranian seven-condition plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has been published: the circulating list is reconstructed from statements by officials, according to the Tehran Times, based on remarks by Araghchi, Qalibaf, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei and Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. In that reconstruction, the conditions include a full ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, an end to the naval blockade, a license to export oil, the release of at least $12 billion in frozen assets, cancellation of post-June unilateral sanctions, an end to strikes and acceptance of the Iran-Oman safe navigation route.

Brent plunged more than $6 a barrel on Tuesday morning, from $107.24 to $100.80, before recovering to around $104 shortly after 10 a.m. Eastern as traders reacted to a succession of conflicting reports about peace negotiations between the United States and Iran. The drop followed a 7.6% decline on Monday that left Brent at $104.77. Prices initially rose overnight after reports of US strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island, near the Strait of Hormuz, before reversing sharply on Tuesday morning. Qatar confirmed that both sides were reviewing proposals and that no agreement has been announced.

The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said on Tuesday that the United States’ response to Iran’s rights and demands was not convincing and that Washington must provide a comprehensive and explicit response. In a televised speech, President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran stands ready for battle “with its finger on the trigger” but has also given the American side a “powerful and rational” response, and that the ball is now in America’s court to prevent war. Donald Trump told Fox News he is “not looking to kill lots of people” in Iran and described the action on Qeshm Island as a “minor attack” rather than a resumption of war, saying the US has Iran “totally where we want” and could “finish them off” or “be nice and let thousands of people live that would get killed in a war.”

The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, Ali Abdollahi, presented a plan with five conditions for lasting security, including an end to hostilities on all fronts, the complete lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian assets and the payment of war reparations, according to the Tasnim news agency. The plan also calls for recognition of Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and a guarantee against future aggression under a regional security framework for West Asia. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said a Qatari delegation met Iranian officials in Tehran for more than three hours on Monday and that both sides are now reviewing Qatar’s proposal. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it downed two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm and destroyed an MQ-9 east of the strait, while the Revolutionary Guard navy told Brasil de Fato that the two MQM-170s were captured intact by electronic warfare without being destroyed. Iran’s Parliament speaker and chief negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said Iran’s military response to any miscalculation by the enemy will be unpredictable.

ADNOC Gas will supply up to 1.6 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to TotalEnergies over five years, under an agreement announced on Tuesday by the gas unit of Abu Dhabi’s state energy firm and the French oil major. The first LNG deliveries will begin as early as this year, according to TotalEnergies. OilPrice notes that LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz have been severely constrained for eight months and that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains confident that long-term global demand will stay on the upside. The Ruwais LNG project, under development in Abu Dhabi, will have 9.6 million tons per annum of capacity, most of it already committed to buyers in Asia and Europe under long-term agreements.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the country remains in a “state of war”, with its forces mobilized and prepared for any scenario, in remarks to the Tasnim agency carried by Opera Mundi. According to him, Iran neither started nor sought the war, but will respond firmly to any new aggression. Tehran demands an end to the US naval blockade of its ports, the suspension of new economic sanctions and guarantees for selling its oil before fully restoring circulation in the Hormuz region, with the measures implemented within 48 hours, according to the same source. According to Russian agency Sputnik, the United States has no intention of escalating attacks on Iran after the strike on Qeshm Island, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. A US official cited by Reuters said the Qeshm operation was defensive in nature and hit anti-aircraft missile systems used against US forces. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that Iran’s military and strategic response to any miscalculation by the enemy would be unpredictable.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Tuesday that three oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, after switching off their navigation and identification systems and taking an unauthorized route. According to the statement, the vessels were left along the southern shores of the strait and were still ablaze, and fishermen in the east saw a night lit by the flames.

The United States launched limited strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday, hours after Vice President JD Vance said he was optimistic that diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction. The strikes targeted surface-to-air missiles being used against US assets, according to Reuters and the Associated Press (AP). Several explosions were heard on Qeshm on Monday evening, according to Iranian state media, with local outlets describing their cause as unclear. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US had been carrying out a series of smaller-scale strikes, purposefully kept secret by the Trump administration so as not to signal any intent of resuming the military campaign against Iran.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that EU gas stocks enter winter 2026–2027 at their lowest since 2013, that low stocks in Europe combined with limited capacity in Asia and South America could sharpen competition for liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes and pressure spot prices, and that restocking in summer 2027 could keep tensions high until the middle of next year — according to the IEA, the near-paralysis of LNG flows through the Strait of Hormuz cut cargoes from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates by more than 60 billion cubic meters between March and October 2026, with a projected 3% fall in global LNG supply in 2026, about 20 billion cubic meters, and a drop of about 1.5% in world gas demand, about 65 billion cubic meters — German stocks, the largest in Europe, stood at 61.03% on November 1, against an EU average of 74.62%, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data, and TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said Europe will face no gas shortage this winter but will pay more, and that the continent loosened storage requirements a year too early.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday that Iran delivered a “firm and rational” response to the US, that Washington must decide whether to prevent another war and that a new American strategic mistake would open a new battlefield, while Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the revised seven-stage diplomatic proposal could be fully implemented within two days, conditioning security in the Strait of Hormuz on an end to the American naval blockade and measures such as sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets — according to Sputnik, Iran’s Armed Forces are at the highest level of defensive readiness.

Iran conditions the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the end of the US naval blockade and on meeting Tehran's demands. “The Strait of Hormuz cannot reopen unless the blockade ends and Iran's demands are met”, an Iranian spokesperson said, according to Brasil 247.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it shot down two more US MQM-170 drones over Qeshm Island and destroyed an MQ-9 east of the Strait of Hormuz.

The US military carried out what US officials called “defensive strikes” in the Strait of Hormuz. On Qeshm Island, the blasts came in rapid succession late on Monday, and witnesses told the state-owned IRNA news agency they saw two planes flying over the island. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had downed a US MQ-9 drone over the eastern Strait of Hormuz, the 55th such drone brought down.

The Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it brought down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones south of Qeshm Island using electronic warfare. Explosions were also heard on the island, according to the state-run IRNA news agency, with no known cause and no official statement on their origin.

Qatari mediators and Iranian officials held two rounds of talks last week, and diplomatic efforts have made progress toward a framework in which Iran would cease its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz in return for the United States lifting its blockade on Iran's ports, according to two officials. On Sunday, Iranian negotiators were in Doha for a third consecutive day of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at reaching a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to an official briefed on the discussions.

Iran has a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the United States, Tehran said on Monday, shortening a process originally expected to take seven days, and has conditioned the reopening on Washington accepting its demands. They include an end to military operations on all fronts, the end of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, the unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad and the suspension of sanctions on the country’s oil sector.

Iran rejected the transfer of its enriched uranium abroad and conditioned the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on the United States ending its naval blockade and meeting Tehran’s demands, according to the Tehran Times. Asked whether the possibility of transferring Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile to another country was raised in the talks and whether Iran might agree, Iran said no, according to Al-Monitor.

An Emirati-owned offshore tug, the Selat Storm, was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz northwest of the Musandam Peninsula, and was seen partially submerging on Sunday evening. It was the second likely Iranian attack on a tug in the strait since October 18, when a projectile hit the Dutch-flagged tug JIF Barracuda.

Iran's Army Navy said a tanker caught fire after colliding with a naval mine in an area it described as restricted and insecure east of the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel had turned off its navigation systems, the statement said.

Negotiations to end the US-Iran war produced a draft deal: Iranian negotiators left Qatar on Sunday and a draft proposal began circulating for a possible follow-up meeting, according to a Reuters source cited by OilPrice. On Monday morning, Brent traded at $108.61 a barrel, down 4.25% on the day, and WTI fell 4.32% to $99.62.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said that 11 tankers violating passage rules in the Strait of Hormuz had caught fire since October 25, some of them sinking. In a post on X on Monday, the force counted the nine days since the visit of US Central Command (Centcom) commander Brad Cooper to the strait and said the tankers sank “to the depths of the sea”.

The chief executive of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Sultan Al Jaber, said that global reserves have shrunk by nearly 1 billion barrels because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking in Abu Dhabi, he said diesel fuel reserves in some countries are at their lowest seasonal levels in 35 years and that other nations face a supply deficit of 600 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that the country was open to the possibility of reopening the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the United States met Iran's demands. According to AFP, the conditions include ending the Middle East war on all fronts, unfreezing Iranian assets abroad, lifting sanctions on its oil sector and ending the US naval blockade.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Al Mayeda, carrying cargo from Qatar to Pakistan, was struck by unidentified objects near the Strait of Hormuz, despite reports that Pakistani authorities had prior Iranian clearance for safe passage. Qatari carrier Nakilat confirmed in a statement that the attack happened on the evening of October 30, with no crew injuries and no reported environmental damage, and shipping data indicates the vessel changed course and headed back toward the Gulf.

Iranian negotiators left Doha on Sunday after three consecutive days of consultations with Qatari mediators on a deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Arab News. An official briefed on the talks told the agency on Monday that the departure was not due to difficulties in the discussions. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday it is weighing a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days if the US meets its conditions.

The spokesperson for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said two oil tankers exploded after hitting Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz, in a statement to the state media channel Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. According to the spokesperson, the vessels were traveling on 'an unauthorized route in the Strait' and were in violation of regulations.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said two oil tankers exploded after striking mines while traveling along an unauthorized route in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters. Both vessels deliberately deactivated their navigation and identification systems to pass covertly through the restricted southern route, Mehr News reported.

Iran says it could revise its nuclear doctrine but insists that no official decision has been taken. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said that “so far, no official decision has been taken by the government or the Supreme National Security Council to change the nuclear doctrine”, according to Opera Mundi. Rezaei also confirmed that a new message, relayed by US intermediaries, reached Iran's Foreign Ministry, with a tone different from that of previous communications. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he hoped Washington would choose “diplomacy over other paths” and that Iran was ready for both defense and diplomacy, according to the Hindustan Times. The indirect talks are mediated by Qatar and Pakistan and cover Iran's nuclear program, sanctions imposed by Washington and the safety of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened within two days if Washington agrees to a set of conditions, including formal recognition of the new shipping route designated by Iran and Oman in the strait. In an interview with Al Jazeera, according to Middle East Eye, Araghchi also cited lifting the sanctions the United States imposed on Iran after the collapse of the Islamabad memorandum in July, reducing the US military presence in the region, reinstating the oil waivers granted in June as part of the memorandum and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) said that as of October 31 its forces had redirected 144 commercial vessels to ensure compliance with the naval blockade against Iran. In a post on X, Centcom said the vessels were redirected “to ensure compliance” and that the George Washington aircraft carrier was supporting enforcement of the blockade, according to Middle East Eye.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz include lifting the sanctions imposed after the Islamabad memorandum, reducing US forces in the region, restoring oil waivers and releasing frozen Iranian funds, including those held in Qatar. Araghchi said talks are under way with Qatari mediators on a plan to reopen the Strait within two days if the United States meets those conditions, according to Al Jazeera.

Fertilizer shipments from West Asia fell to 994,000 tons in September from 3.41 million tons in the same month a year earlier, according to a senior manager of agriculture data at Kpler, cited by Press TV. J.P. Morgan says the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has upended fertilizer supply chains during planting seasons for staple crops such as corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and vegetables. The World Trade Organization (WTO) reports that fertilizer shipments through the strait have reached a standstill.

Iran’s army said a tanker illegally operating in a restricted and dangerous area east of the Strait of Hormuz struck naval mines, was damaged, caught fire and was left unable to move, according to PressTV. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire over the past 24 hours after striking mines while attempting to pass through the unauthorized southern route of the strait, Arab News reported.

Quad foreign ministers expressed “grave concerns” over economic coercion, including through arbitrary export restrictions and non-market policies and practices that result in overcapacity and disrupt global supply chains in critical industries, in the joint statement issued after Saturday’s meeting in Atlanta, according to Reuters. The text also emphasized the “absolute necessity to protect and preserve navigational rights and freedoms in the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait”.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described a US effort to open dialogue with Tehran as “a positive step” in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday. He said that, in high-level meetings, Iran had studied a letter sent by US Vice President JD Vance, and that Tehran's conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz remain clear, with mediators continuing consultations on them. Iran has no plans for direct meetings with US officials, according to TASS.

Iran said the two Iranian fishermen it had reported missing after what it called a US attack on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz have been found on Saturday. Earlier, Iranian state TV had cited a provincial official as saying that two fishermen had gone missing and two others were wounded in what he called an attack by the United States.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that Tehran agreed to shorten to two days the timeframe for implementing its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. He said Iran demands recognition of the shipping route it discussed with Oman and the closure of the others. An Iranian delegation arrived in Qatar to discuss mediators’ proposals on the nuclear program, and the minister said there are no plans for a meeting with US officials for now.

Two Iranian fishermen were injured in a drone attack attributed to the American “enemy” on two fishing boats in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday morning, China’s state-run Xinhua reported. Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, citing a Hormozgan province official, said the US attacked two fishing boats near Qeshm Island, leaving two fishermen missing and one wounded, Reuters reported.

An oil spill from a tanker attacked near the Strait of Hormuz is spreading along the United Arab Emirates (UAE) coastline, forcing the closure of some beaches and coastal areas. UAE authorities are working to contain the spill from a supertanker, and Umm Al Quwain Municipality is intensifying efforts to limit pollution and protect marine habitats.

Iranian diplomat Nasser Kanaani criticized what he termed an attempt by colonialists to strip nations of their powers, in response to the UK prime minister’s remarks on Iran’s nuclear deal and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News.

Oman rescued 25 sailors from a merchant ship set ablaze in an attack in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, while Iran reported that three oil tankers were halted while crossing, according to The Hindu. Oman's Maritime Security Centre evacuated the people aboard the RITI, a Panamanian-flagged vessel that tracking website MarineTraffic identified as a crude oil tanker. In a separate statement, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said a third tanker, a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil, exploded and caught fire while attempting to pass through an unauthorised route.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains 70 percent below pre-conflict levels, according to a weekly assessment by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The body recorded 277 vessel transits in the seven days to October 28, 155 inbound and 122 outbound. Since the conflict began on February 28, UKMTO counts 88 incidents in the strait, with at least 35 attacks on shipping in October — the worst month for attacks since the conflict started.

The US military is conducting nightly missions over the Strait of Hormuz to enforce a blockade on Iranian ports along the waterway and protect commercial vessels, according to the Jerusalem Post. The frequency of flight operations has put a strain on aircraft, crew members and the mechanics responsible for maintaining fighter jets, according to officers cited by the Wall Street Journal. The US has 50,000 troops and 20 ships deployed in the Middle East, at a cost of $2 billion to $3 billion a month on munitions, fuel and supplies.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said it had captured intact a US reconnaissance and decoy drone west of the Strait of Hormuz, after taking control of the drone’s guidance and control systems, according to the Iranian agency IRNA. According to the Guard’s statement, the drone’s mission was to identify Iranian air defense systems along the Persian Gulf coast and around the Strait of Hormuz, and analysis of the recovered data indicated it had taken off from the coast of a southern Persian Gulf country.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy (IRGC Navy) said four oil tankers had caught fire and exploded in the Strait of Hormuz while attempting to use what it described as unauthorized routes, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media. The Associated Press (AP) reported that Iran said four tankers struck mines and caught fire. In its latest statement, the IRGC Navy said a fourth vessel, a tanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil, had hit a mine, suffered a powerful explosion and was burning.

The British maritime agency UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) said in a warning issued on Thursday that it had received a report from a company security officer that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile while completing an outbound transit of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Anadolu. The agency did not identify the weapon, establish who fired it or attribute responsibility to Iran, according to Gulf News.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy captured a US MQM-170 spy drone and landed it intact in the western Strait of Hormuz, Press TV reported. The Guard described the action as an offensive electronic warfare operation in which it landed the drone intact, according to Mehr News.

Oman rescued 25 crew members from the RITI, a merchant ship flying the Panamanian flag that the tracking website MarineTraffic identified as a crude oil tanker, after the vessel was targeted and set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz. The Omani Maritime Security Centre said in a statement on Friday that it had evacuated the people aboard the ship, according to Al Jazeera. Oman said it had rescued 25 sailors from a merchant ship that was targeted and set ablaze in the blockaded strait, the Times of Israel reported.

A supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil was among three tankers that exploded and caught fire while traveling through an unauthorized route in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said on Friday, according to the Associated Press (AP). The force said the vessel had struck a naval mine. Oman’s navy evacuated 25 crew members of the merchant ship Riti, sailing under the Panamanian flag, after it was targeted and a fire broke out on board, Oman’s Maritime Security Center said in a statement. The United Arab Emirates said on Friday that the oil leak from the Gem No. 2 tanker had been stopped, with no new leakage detected, as cleanup operations continued along affected coastlines, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Iran’s Army Navy said it destroyed an enemy unmanned surface vessel (USV) in the eastern Strait of Hormuz on Friday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The agency said two oil tankers that were transiting prohibited areas with their tracking systems turned off suffered damage and caught fire after hitting sea mines, disregarding warnings and regulations.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Friday that two oil tankers were involved in an incident and were stopped in waters south of the Strait of Hormuz after ignoring radio warnings from Iran, according to the Jerusalem Post. Russia's TASS news agency also reported the incident and the stoppage of the two vessels.

A tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was hit by two limpet mines fixed by a small boat and suffered a fire in its engine room, the first successful use of such explosives in the waterway since the start of the United States (US) war with Iran in February, according to Reuters, in a text republished by gCaptain. The British naval agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the crew is safe, with no environmental impact, the fire extinguished and the vessel heading to its next port, according to OilPrice. The navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two tankers attempting unauthorized routes in the strait encountered incidents and were stopped in the waterway's southern waters, according to Mehr News. Brent crude reached US$117 a barrel in Asian trade amid fears of escalation after the US midterm elections on November 3, according to OilPrice.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force says it intercepted a fighter jet described as hostile near Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday night, according to Mehr; Qeshm residents heard explosions and saw unidentified lights and heard unidentified sounds in the sky and over the water, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The British maritime agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report of a tanker on fire 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, in the Strait of Hormuz, with the cause unknown at the time of the report — a later verified report confirmed the crew safe, with no environmental impact and the vessel proceeding to its next port, after it was approached on the port side by a small boat that attached two explosive devices to the hull above the waterline. A ship on fire was reported in the Strait, according to Arab News, citing the UKMTO, without details of the cause or any casualties.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday it had received a report that a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting outbound through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Middle East Eye. No injuries to the crew or environmental impact was reported, UKMTO said.

Iran said three oil tankers exploded and caught fire after striking naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours while attempting to transit an unauthorized route, according to the state broadcaster, which cited the Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Associated Press could not immediately confirm the report. A British military monitor said a vessel spotted another vessel on fire while transiting the strait.

QatarEnergy is buying long-term supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States and other suppliers as part of a strategy to build a trading and arbitrage hedge that would generate revenue if exports through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted, according to Reuters. “In a scenario where you have a closure of the strait, which is the true contingency that we're looking to have, you'd immediately see a spike in the gas price and you'll be able to generate revenue for QatarEnergy that otherwise wouldn't be generated,” CEO Saad al-Kaabi said.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Thursday that Britain was “doing everything we can” to support the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, amid the impact of the Iran war, according to Middle East Eye.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it brought down a US MQM-170 spy drone intact in an offensive electronic warfare operation west of the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Mehr news agency. In the Guard’s account, the drone’s mission was to conduct reconnaissance of Iran’s air defense systems along the Persian Gulf coastline and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that three oil tankers exploded and caught fire after hitting sea mines over the past 24 hours while attempting to cross an unauthorized route south of the Strait of Hormuz, in a statement carried by state media. The claim has no independent confirmation. The independent maritime report came earlier, from the British agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which reported a ship on fire in the strait without details on the cause or casualties.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) received a report of a vessel ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz, 9 nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, according to Middle East Eye, and the master of a third vessel reported sighting another vessel on fire 17 km north of Khasab, with the status of the crew unknown, according to Mehr News.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-1 drone east of the Strait of Hormuz, the 14th downed, in an announcement carried by IRNA opposite Sirik and under the integrated air defense network.

Barack Obama criticized Donald Trump’s handling of the war with Iran, saying allies and bases have been attacked, Americans have been killed and hundreds have been wounded. According to the former president, the US has run down its missile stock, making the country more vulnerable, and Iran now has veto power over the Strait of Hormuz. Obama also linked the rise in oil and diesel prices to the conflict.

Donald Trump said he intends to rename the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait, at a Republican rally in Ohio, in the United States, ahead of the midterms, according to TASS. He compared the idea to renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America and said the new name would come “at some point”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he remains in close and permanent contact with intermediaries to examine proposals that could implement the Seven-Day Plan, under which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the necessary conditions are met, including a ceasefire across the Middle East, with a Qatari delegation in Tehran on Sunday to discuss the talks, Hormuz and energy supply.

UBS raised its Brent forecast to 110 dollars a barrel by the end of 2026, its second upward revision this month, from 100 dollars, according to OilPrice. The bank says Gulf crude and condensate loadings remain below prewar levels.

The United States advised vessels to refrain from making non-essential transits through the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz to avoid delays, according to Sputnik. The command recommended that crews be prepared to change course or stop at the direction of US forces and to have the necessary documents ready for inspection. The document said neutral vessels, carrying neutral cargo or in ballast, between neutral ports in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz may be subject to questioning, visit, and search to confirm their intentions regarding the blockade.

Qatar and Iran discussed the Middle East war and the blockaded Strait of Hormuz at a meeting in Moscow, the emir's office said. Iran's navy said an oil tanker caught fire after striking naval mines east of the Strait of Hormuz, after the vessel entered a prohibited area with its tracking systems switched off.

Qatar is working on an agreement between the United States and Iran under which both sides would make mutual concessions within five days, according to The New York Times, cited by Sputnik, which heard from diplomatic sources. Under the outline, Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping and the United States would reportedly lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports. The main obstacle is deciding exactly when each side makes its concessions.

Oil flows out of the Strait of Hormuz averaged 11.7 million barrels per day in October, up from 9.8 million barrels per day in September, according to a Kpler estimate cited by OilPrice. In the same period, at least 25 ships were hit in Hormuz in the first 20 days of the month, and outlets tracking these incidents note that many attacks go unreported.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that “nothing will be the same” as before the US-Israeli war against Iran, including the administration of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News.

United States (US) President Donald Trump said there is a possibility of another attack on Iran, perhaps "tomorrow", and also a possibility of a "nice, big, beautiful agreement", when asked by reporters about the matter, according to the Hindustan Times. He said his goal is to permanently prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear weapon, and that an earlier operation involving B-2 bombers would not have guaranteed a lasting outcome — "I've got to make it permanent" —, according to TRT World. Iran, for its part, denied offering to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in return for the US lifting its naval blockade, and the Tasnim news agency, affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Tehran has made no fresh proposal to Pakistani mediators, according to the Times of India.

Iran has proposed to the United States reopening shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the US blockade on Iranian ports, according to Al Arabiya, as reported by TASS.

A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile seven nautical miles off the Omani coast, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, according to the Middle East Eye. The vessel, which was transiting outbound in the Strait of Hormuz, was able to continue its journey to the next port of call.

The Navy of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said two more supertankers attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz via an unauthorized southern route struck naval mines, with the explosions and fires incapacitating their engine rooms, and were abandoned by their crews. Together the vessels were carrying more than 4.5 million barrels of crude oil, according to the IRGC Navy, in a Mehr News report. The commander of the IRGC Navy said US forces had moved 600 to 700 kilometers away from the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Tehran Times.

India’s crude imports from the Middle East jumped 32% in September to about 2.8 million barrels per day, the highest since February, as more barrels exit Hormuz, according to OilPrice. Ship tracking data showed that India’s Middle Eastern crude imports returned to pre-war levels in September, while its refiners cut purchases of Russian oil amid stiff competition with China, Reuters reported.

The Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that four vessels conducting illegal oil transfers in the northern Persian Gulf were hit simultaneously and caught fire, according to Mehr News.

Qatar and France called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza under the agreed ceasefire arrangements and an end to settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, according to TRT World. The two countries reaffirmed the need to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz without constraints or fees, according to a joint statement from the Élysée Palace. Macron and Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani backed full implementation of the Gaza ceasefire and a diplomatic way out of tensions with Iran, according to Al Jazeera.

S&P Global warned that the energy shock around the Strait of Hormuz could turn into a global food crisis, with pricier diesel and fertilizer, strong biofuel demand and El Niño pressing on world agriculture, OilPrice reported. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects fertilizer prices up 10 percent by the end of 2026, adding 5 percent to food costs this year and another 2.4 percent in 2027. According to OilPrice, even if the strait stays open, Gulf gas output would need months or years to recover, leaving the poorest countries, where food takes about half of household spending, most exposed.

Japan booked a trade deficit of $17.8 billion (2.82 trillion yen) from April to September, almost double the figure a year earlier, as the Middle East crisis made energy imports far more expensive for a resource-poor G7 economy, according to government data released on Wednesday. The volume of petroleum imports fell 21.2 percent while the value surged 26.3 percent; the volume of petroleum products dropped 26.8 percent and the value rose 23.2 percent.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed ways to strengthen economic, investment and defence cooperation at Lusail Palace in Doha, according to TRT World. The French tour of the Gulf from October 19 to 21 aims, according to the French presidency, to consolidate strategic and economic partnerships with Gulf states and to support multilateral initiatives to restore regional stability and safeguard freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced that a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine south of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the statement, the vessel had switched off all its radar and navigation systems and was attempting to exit through the unauthorized southern route of the strait despite warnings from Iranian naval forces. Dawn reported that two tankers were set ablaze and brought to a halt south of the Strait of Hormuz after hitting Iranian mines, according to an IRGC Navy statement shared by state media on Tuesday.

Brent crude surpassed US$ 111 a barrel on Tuesday and reached its highest level in five months, amid worsening conflicts in the Middle East. Around 9 am, the barrel was trading at US$ 111.12, up 1.43%, and reached US$ 111.69 during trading, according to G1. WTI rose 5.7%, to US$ 109.60. Oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz fell to about 8.5 million barrels per day last week, from more than 20 million the week before, according to analysis firm Kpler. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said it was ready to coordinate a new release of oil from member countries’ emergency reserves, if necessary.

Record-high freight costs are changing the behavior of Asian buyers, who are increasingly using smaller tankers and ships under long-term charter deals to pick up crude oil, according to OilPrice. The Iran war reshuffled trade routes and patterns and tied up more supertankers in inefficient, lengthy voyages and on a shuttle service to move crude through the Strait of Hormuz.

Two tankers were set ablaze and brought to a halt south of the Strait of Hormuz after hitting Iranian mines, the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement shared by state media and cited by Middle East Eye.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it intercepted and destroyed a US MQ-9 drone over the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, according to the Middle East Eye.

Before the war with Iran, 24 percent of the world’s sulfur supply passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and the author of the OilPrice piece says he can find no reliable information on whether the material is still being shipped, suspecting the volume is near zero. Sulfur from the Middle East went from about $500 a tonne at the start of the conflict to more than $800, and some customers paid more than $1,000 for Canadian sulfur in June, according to OilPrice.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the United States and Israel for insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that “the war imposed by the United States and the Zionist regime (Israel), combined with the economic blockade, constitutes the principal source of insecurity in our region”, at a press conference in Tehran on Monday alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. According to TRT World, Lavrov is on his first visit to Iran since the outbreak of the Middle East war, and Moscow is seeking to play a mediating role.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced another oil tanker exploded after hitting a mine in Hormuz, according to Mehr News. The state-run IRNA news agency reported a third oil tanker caught fire after striking a sea mine in the strait on Sunday, citing the IRGC Navy’s public relations office.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said two oil tankers, each carrying about two million barrels of crude oil, caught fire after hitting naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera. TASS, citing an IRGC statement, reports one tanker that struck a mine in the southern part of the strait and suffered an explosion and a fire in the engine room, and Middle East Eye, citing Iranian media, also describes one tanker on fire in the same stretch, according to the IRGC navy.

The situation in the Middle East is on the brink of a large-scale war, although the Islamabad memorandum between the United States and Iran has everything to bring the situation in the Strait of Hormuz back to the diplomatic track, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to TASS.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened if the United States accepts Iran’s conditions, according to Mehr News. Cited by the Hindustan Times, the foreign minister said the strait could reopen within six days if Washington accepts the conditions, with negotiations resuming on the seventh day. Iran’s demands include lifting the US blockade on its ports, removing sanctions on Iranian oil exports and ending hostilities across all regional fronts, according to the Times of India. Iran’s new defense minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, warned that the United States and its allies will suffer enormous damage if Washington resumes military action against Tehran, according to Sputnik.

US Vice President JD Vance said Washington was focused on securing a “long-term” and “verifiable commitment” from Iran not to rebuild its nuclear program, while claiming the US had “in some ways decisively won” the war against Iran and destroyed its nuclear program, according to Middle East Eye. Vance blamed Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on tankers for driving up prices, saying, “We’ve never had a situation like this” in which one country was “trying to completely choke off world energy supply”.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported that a second supertanker struck a naval mine and caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, and Iran’s navy said an oil tanker caught fire in the Sea of Oman, according to Al Jazeera. United States Central Command (Centcom) said the “vast majority” of Iran’s attempted attacks on ships in the strait failed and that the waterway remains open, and spokesperson Tim Hawkins told Fox News that about 97 percent of vessels trying to cross the strait had done so without being struck, many with US military protection, according to Middle East Eye. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran presented a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, conveyed through Qatar, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV, cited by Middle East Eye; he told RT that, if the necessary conditions are met, the Strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days, in exchange for Washington lifting its naval blockade, easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports and releasing frozen Iranian assets.

Sounds of explosions were heard near the city of Sirik in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, according to the Fars news agency, in a report cited by TASS. Locals reported explosions in the Kuhestak coastal area and in several districts of Sirik, according to the same agency.

The naval force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared once again that “the Strait of Hormuz is closed, and the passage of ships of various nationalities through the strait is prohibited”, according to the official state IRNA news agency. An oil tanker caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after hitting a mine, according to the Revolutionary Guards. At least two other tankers were reported hit off Saudi Arabia’s coast since yesterday, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude oil struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering an explosion and a massive fire, in a statement released on Saturday. The IRGC also said, in a report published by Mehr News, that the vessel was attempting to transit the strait through an unauthorized route when it hit the mine.

US President Donald Trump said the US Navy is carrying out an “effective” blockade that has stopped all Iranian ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera.

The majority of vessels attacked in the Strait of Hormuz do not report the incidents to UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations), which prevents the agency from establishing the true number of attacks, according to the Middle East Eye. Combined inbound and outbound transits remain about 70 percent below pre-war levels, according to the same outlet. In the week ending October 14, UKMTO recorded 254 combined transits, 129 inbound and 125 outbound, down from 275 the previous week, according to the World Ports Organization.

The squeeze in ship fuel persists despite accelerating crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS, which cites trading house Vitol. According to Bloomberg, a top Vitol executive said that accelerating crude exports through Hormuz are not translating into higher output of the shipping fuel, with tight supply and soaring prices.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei accused the United Kingdom of reversing the roles of aggressor and victim after Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he discussed ending Iranian aggression, including in the Strait of Hormuz, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Middle East Eye. In a post on X, Baqaei said the regional turmoil stemmed from unlawful interventions, including those backed or supported by Britain.

Disruption to fuel and fertiliser shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to affect agricultural harvests, the head of a United Nations rural development agency warned on Thursday, according to Middle East Eye. The president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Alvaro Lario, told Reuters that the pass-through from the initial locking down of the Strait of Hormuz “is now starting to be seen”. Disruptions to fertiliser shipments and higher fuel and transport costs, compounded by El Niño and disruptions to Black Sea wheat supplies, threaten to lower farm yields.

Iran’s Army Deputy Coordinator Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the Strait of Hormuz is closed, that any passage through it must be coordinated, and cited high gasoline prices in the US as proof of the closure, according to Mehr News.

A senior UN official warned that a failure by the US and Iran to quickly approve a UN plan for shipping fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz could plunge parts of Asia and Africa into a food security crisis, according to Reuters, in a text published by The Cradle. “It’s absolutely crucial to get the deal in the next few weeks. Otherwise, we will miss the planting season,” UN Under-Secretary-General Jorge Moreira da Silva told Reuters in Bangkok. According to the UN analysis he cited, daily traffic through the strait has collapsed from around 130 ships before the war to just five last week, and fertilizer prices have jumped 25 to 30 percent since late February.

A second vessel sank near the Strait of Hormuz within less than 24 hours. The bulk carrier Cape Dao, flagged by Antigua and Barbuda, was struck by a projectile on 23 September and sank, according to data from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) released on Wednesday. The loss was reported less than 24 hours after the sinking of the Singapore-flagged GFS Pride, which was struck by a projectile in a separate incident, maritime security sources said.

The container ship GFS Pride sank near the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by a projectile, according to maritime security sources cited by the Jerusalem Post. A navigational warning from the Hydrographer of Pakistan, dated October 14, reported the sinking of the GFS Pride with floating containers and cautioned mariners. A second vessel, the bulk carrier Cape Dao, flagged in Antigua and Barbuda and hit on September 23, is reported to be sinking after an unsuccessful rescue attempt, according to Vanguard.

A container ship was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, according to a report received by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), cited by Middle East Eye.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a container ship sank in the Strait of Hormuz after striking a mine, according to TASS. The ship was carrying about 2,500 containers, and the report did not identify the owner or provide information about the fate of the crew. LBC, citing Reuters and Iranian state media, reported that the ship was trying to transit a route the Guard described as unauthorised and dangerous.

Brent was trading at $106.37 and West Texas Intermediate at $94.72, while Iranian officials attributed the recent surge in tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz to new tactics and suggested they are not about to end anytime soon, according to Reuters, in text republished by OilPrice.

The United States Central Command (Centcom) rejected the Iranian claim of control over the Strait of Hormuz, said American forces and regional partners clearly control the strait – with more than 19 million barrels of crude oil shipped with American assistance – and said the naval commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has no navy, according to the Middle East Eye.

Iranian missile and drone attacks on ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz were at their most intense in the two weeks to October 11, the highest level since the US-Israeli strikes began seven months ago, according to the Financial Times, in a report by Middle East Eye. Six vessels were attacked on Sunday alone — the deadliest day of attacks on shipping near the strait since the start of the conflict, the newspaper calculated. Oil shipments through Hormuz fell to 2.9 million barrels on October 11, the lowest daily volume this month, according to Kpler.

A tanker was struck by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, a division of the Royal Navy, according to a source verified by the agency. UKMTO also recorded four more previously-unreported attacks on ships in the same strait on Sunday.

Saudi Arabia plans to raise the capacity of the East-West pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz to 10 million barrels per day within two to three years, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, according to OilPrice. The 740-mile pipeline, also known as Petroline, has a maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day and returned to service after a two-week suspension following drone attacks in September. Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company is studying “additional crude export routes” and working on “expanding overseas storage”.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei said that control over the Strait of Hormuz represents enormous national wealth and that its real value lies in the ability to ensure security, according to Mehr News.

The commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Ahmad Vahidi, said no extra-regional power has the right to threaten, hold a domineering presence or intervene in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, according to Mehr News. According to Middle East Eye, foreign powers have no right to interfere in the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC commander-in-chief said.

Oil prices edged lower on Tuesday after climbing by nearly $2 a barrel in the previous session, with Brent at $106.04 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $93.27, according to Reuters, which also cites US President Donald Trump saying Russia had agreed to supply diesel and his administration had temporarily lifted US sanctions on Russian fuel. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global economy could soon test the limits of resilience, with emergency oil stocks running low and government budgets overstretched, according to the Guardian, which adds that rerouting oil supplies away from the Strait of Hormuz and releasing strategic stocks helped contain the impact of the US-Iran war on prices.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said a third oil tanker caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz after striking a naval mine, according to Mehr News. The IRGC said the vessel had attempted to cross through an unauthorized route despite warnings, and that it was the third super tanker in two days to try to breach the blockade and hit a mine.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said it had struck a supertanker trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and that the vessel caught fire. The statement was published on the force’s news platform, Sepah News. According to the Guards, the ship tried to cross the area by disabling its transponders and ignoring warnings from the Guards’ navy. Al Jazeera, citing reports, said an oil tanker was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz region. Brent futures for December rose above $107 a barrel on the ICE, the first time since September 29, according to trade data cited by TASS.

Sixty countries supported a declaration on Monday (12) committing to work to preserve freedom of navigation and opposing the introduction of tolls in straits used for international navigation, according to G1. The document was signed by EU members, Australia, Japan and the UK, among others. Since the start of the war between the United States and Iran, the charging of fees for navigation through the Strait of Hormuz has been speculated about.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Pakistan and Qatar continue to serve as intermediaries between Iran and the United States and that Tehran and Washington continue to exchange communications, according to TASS. He said Iran is reviewing US proposals for a seven-day plan to restore security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said security will not return to the Strait of Hormuz as long as the United States (US) persists in its blockade and military aggression, according to Mehr News.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy released on Sunday a video showing a supertanker on fire after hitting a naval mine south of the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Navy itself, it was the third “violating” oil tanker since Saturday to hit naval mines on the strait's “unauthorized” route and catch fire. Mehr News also reported the third oil tanker catching fire in Hormuz after hitting a mine.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said that Tehran continues to demand changes to Washington’s response before agreeing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks, according to the Middle East Eye. Rezaei wrote on X that the United States (US) has agreed to some of Iran’s seven conditions, but that Tehran considers its response inadequate.

A seafarers’ union official told NPR that, as attacks mount on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, some crews are being offered big rewards for making the crossing.

Iran’s Supreme Security Council secretary, Mohsen Rezaei, said Tehran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States accepts Iran’s seven-point plan for a peaceful resolution, conveyed through Qatar in September, according to Sputnik Globe. According to Rezaei, the United States responded to the conditions and accepted some of them, but its response to the rest was vague. He called the US response “insufficient” and said Iran is no longer responding to the Americans, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said a second supertanker carrying crude oil exploded and caught fire in its engine room after striking a sea mine in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. The ship had all navigation systems switched off and was on an unauthorized route, according to the IRGC. The IRGC also said that three tankers that violated transit rules in the strait have struck mines and caught fire since yesterday and that vessels with navigation and identification systems turned off will be classified as hostile, with severe punishment, according to TASS.

A crude oil supertanker exploded and caught fire after hitting a mine while trying to leave the Strait of Hormuz on a route described as unauthorised and dangerous, according to Iranian media Press TV. The Revolutionary Guard said the vessel had switched off its navigation and GPS systems before hitting the mine and warned that “a massive fire awaits” any tanker that disregards the strait’s rules.

The UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) said on Sunday it had received a report of a tanker hit by a projectile in Hormuz, according to Middle East Eye. The ship was struck by an unknown projectile on the port side, causing a fire on board, and the crew was reported safe, according to the UKMTO.

Freight rates for supertankers topped $1.4 million per day on the Gulf-to-East Asia route, a 40% jump in the first week of October alone, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and cited by OilPrice. Ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman tie up the tankers for weeks waiting outside the Strait of Hormuz, tightening the supply of Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) vessels and also pressuring Suezmax and Aframax ships, according to OilPrice.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said an oil tanker exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Jerusalem Post. The Guards did not specify the tanker’s name or flag, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz fell to a seven-day average of 9.9 million barrels per day as of October 7, 42 percent below prewar levels and down from about 15.5 million in September, according to Kpler data cited by the Financial Times. Kpler said flows had recovered to prewar levels in September, but intensified attacks on vessels drove exports sharply lower this week.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said it redirected 133 commercial vessels as of October 9 through the Strait of Hormuz to enforce the naval blockade against Iran. In a post on X, Centcom called the US blockade against Iran “ironclad”. A second outlet, Ajel English, reported that Centcom announced 133 commercial vessels redirected to enforce the maritime blockade on Iran since its resumption.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it struck the gas carrier MT Sunshine, later called NV Sunshine, which was attempting to transit via an unauthorized route in the southern part of the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. The force said the vessel suffered a massive fire in the engine room and propulsion system, according to Al Jazeera. The IRGC warned that vessels violating its rules and passing through the Strait of Hormuz would be punished, according to the Hindustan Times.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ahmad Vahidi said that no extra-regional power has the right to threaten, establish a domineering presence in, or interfere in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News. Brent was trading at $102.83 and WTI at $90.33, up on the week after tanker attacks, with only seven vessels crossing the strait on Tuesday, the lowest figure since late July, according to OilPrice.

Iranian attacks hit at least nine vessels in the Strait of Hormuz last week, a level of attacks on shipping not seen since July, according to The Washington Post. The uptick came after the Trump administration celebrated that US naval escorts had allowed oil flows to reach nearly prewar levels.

The World Bank projects a 2.1% contraction in 2026 for the economies of the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Gulf Cooperation Council states shrinking by an average of 4.3%, according to the Jerusalem Post. Qatar and Kuwait are the hardest hit, with GDP contracting 20.9% and 14.6% respectively, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are the least affected, at 1.6% and 2.0%. The bank attributes the decline to the closure of Hormuz: Gulf oil production fell from a prewar average of about 26 million to about 16 million barrels a day in March, according to The National.

Brent crude rose by 3.8% to $104 a barrel on Thursday. The White House has asked the Pentagon to draw up options for strikes against Iran before the US midterm elections, according to a report in The Atlantic cited by The Guardian. Attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz reached their highest levels of the war, cutting traffic through the waterway.

Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said the Strait of Hormuz will not be opened until the country’s problems are resolved, according to the IRNA news agency, cited by TASS. Mokhber added that Tehran is “changing its strategy in proportion to changes in the adversary’s strategy.”

The number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to a two-month low amid renewed attacks, with crude down 27% from the previous week's high to at least 10.1 million barrels a day and at least 12 tanker attacks between September 28 and October 2, according to OilPrice.

Brent climbed back above US$ 100, trading at US$ 102.50, up more than 2% from Wednesday’s close, according to OilPrice. There were a dozen attacks between September 28 and October 2, according to data from a US Navy-led information outlet cited by Reuters, and tanker traffic dropped sharply — Tuesday’s flows were the lowest since late July, according to Kpler.

A White House official said President Donald Trump will not allow the Iranian government to “manipulate” him, as he claimed Tehran did with previous presidents — the same official said the US controlled the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s economy was collapsing.

Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Tehran had clearly and firmly set out its conditions for ending the imposed war and would respond to US proposals through mediators.

An adviser to the Revolutionary Guards commander, Mohammadreza Naqdi, told the Fars news agency that transit routes in the Strait of Hormuz deemed illegal by Iran will soon be closed, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Devdiscourse. According to Naqdi, those routes were opened by blasting rocky passages in the waterway and would be used by small boats to smuggle oil, according to The Telegraph India.

Analyst Michelle Brohard of Kpler said she suspects Gulf countries pay Iran for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, possibly 10% to 20% of the cargo. The report itself notes that the suspicion has not been independently verified and that there is no public proof of a systematic state toll system, according to Al Jazeera, in a text republished by Yahoo.

Iran and Oman plan to notify an international body soon about the agreement on safe navigation corridors in the Strait of Hormuz, according to spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei, in a text by IRNA carried by TASS. Baghaei said the consultations between Tehran and Muscat were successful and that the parties reached an agreement on the geographical coordinates of the corridors.

The Iran war pushed about 25 countries to adopt structural electrification policies since March, according to ABC News, in a text by OilPrice, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted oil and gas flows. COP31, in Türkiye, will ask countries to meet 35 percent of global energy demand with electricity by 2035, up from 23 percent today. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that 80 million kilometres of new or retrofitted lines are needed by 2040, and a report by consultancy Bain & Company found that between 50 percent and 60 percent of renewable projects in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were cancelled or delayed from 2021 to 2025.

Iraq devalued its currency on Wednesday, changing the official exchange rate from around 1,300 dinars to the U.S. dollar to 1,500 dinars to the dollar, according to AP. The central bank said the new rate had been decided at a Cabinet meeting the night before to meet the relevant financial, economic and monetary requirements. The gap between the official and parallel rates had widened in recent months as a result of the U.S.-Iran war, which has sometimes spilled over into Iraq, and disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian armed forces will soon block illegal routes used to transport oil through the Strait of Hormuz, said Mohammad Reza Naghdi, an adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), according to TASS, citing the Fars agency. Naghdi said the volume of oil transported illegally through the strait is extremely small, carried in small vessels up to tankers.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Athens that Iran has lost complete control of the Strait of Hormuz, that the strait is open, that almost as much oil is flowing out as before the conflict began and that Tehran’s economy is in “total and complete freefall,” according to Al Arabiya English.

Ali Fadavi, head of the advisory group to the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed on Sunday evening, October 4, that for the first time no American naval vessels are present in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman, according to IranWire.

The Panama-flagged tanker On Peace was struck 9 nautical miles off Limah, Oman, and caught fire, according to Oman’s Ministry of Defence. Oman’s air force evacuated 10 crew members and took them to Khasab hospital. Of the 19 crew members, 12 were injured, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs condemned on Tuesday, October 6, the attacks against commercial shipping, seafarers and civilian infrastructure, according to The Hindu. Eleven Indian crew members of the Panama-flagged vessel MT On Peace were injured after the ship was hit by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz. In the Black Sea, two crew members died and 11 were rescued on Monday, October 5, after a fire broke out on the commercial ship MV Royad Mammadov.

A Panama-flagged commercial vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, India's Ministry of External Affairs said. Of the 19 crew members of the MT On Peace, 17 are Indian; 12 were injured, including 11 Indians, and were evacuated to Khasab, Oman. India condemned the attack and called for an immediate halt to attacks on commercial navigation in the region.

US President Donald Trump blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for high gasoline prices on Monday, according to G1. Trump said, in a post on the Truth Social network, that gasoline is being driven up by Russia's refineries hit by Ukraine, and no longer by the Strait of Hormuz, from which record numbers of barrels are coming out on an almost daily basis, according to Gulf News, in a text from the AFP. Prices have been high since the start of the year, when the United States launched its attack against the Iranian regime alongside Israel and Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation, according to G1.

A Kpler analyst suspects there is a toll being paid to Iran for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera. Provisional data from the consultancy show crude exports from the region exceeded pre-war levels on four days in the final week of September, reaching between 19.5 and 22.5 million barrels per day. Abdul Khalique, head of the Liverpool John Moores University Maritime Centre, told Al Jazeera that no public proof confirms a systematic, state-run Iranian toll system.

Saudi Aramco’s chief executive said, according to Reuters, that replenishing global crude and fuel stocks could take two years. According to Nasser, Saudi Arabia’s maximum sustainable production capacity of 12 million barrels per day could be made available within days, and Aramco is studying new routes to bypass Hormuz.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Ali Fadavi said the US moved more than 1,000km away from Iran's borders, according to Middle East Eye. Fadavi added that American vessels are not present in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Sea of Oman or the northern Indian Ocean, according to Middle East Eye.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that if the enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, they will receive a stronger response than before, according to the Tehran Times. Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said that the viewpoints received from Washington on Iran's seven-day proposal for the Strait of Hormuz are under study in Tehran, according to Mehr News.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will only reopen when the United States meets seven conditions of the Islamabad Memorandum, according to Iranian state media cited by the Hindustan Times. Iran presented a proposal at the United Nations General Assembly to reopen Hormuz within seven days if the conditions are met, and the United States replied through Qatari intermediaries, according to the Hindustan Times. Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the US response is under review and that some points still need to be communicated to Washington through mediators.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the United States are met, according to The Hindu. Qalibaf said Iran's position is clear and firm and cited the Islamabad Memorandum, according to Nournews.

At least three tankers were struck by unidentified projectiles in and around the Strait of Hormuz since October 1, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) warnings. In its weekly review released on October 2, UKMTO said 91 incidents of damage to vessels have been reported since February. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is “ironclad” and that US President Donald Trump has “all the options he needs on the table” if Iran continues to “play games” with the strait, according to the Associated Press, in a report carried by the Times of Israel.

Crude shipments from the Gulf region returned to pre-war levels between September 1 and 28, with at least 16.5 million barrels per day, according to maritime intelligence and research firm Kpler, in a report by The Times of India. Before the war, 83% of the region’s crude crossed the Strait of Hormuz; in September, 40% was exported through pipelines in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) without crossing the strait. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said member countries had released 325 million barrels of oil and oil products from strategic reserves, out of 400 million barrels pledged in March.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Iranian broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) that Ukraine will need to embrace a neutral, non-nuclear status, reject its nationalist policy course and recognize the four new Russian regions for a lasting political settlement, according to TASS. Medvedev said Russia and Iran are developing joint activities in defense and attach great importance to this, and that Iran plays a key role in ensuring security in the Strait of Hormuz in terms of geography and international law.

The Iraq Oil Tankers Company transported two million barrels of Iraqi crude aboard a very large crude carrier (VLCC) through the Strait of Hormuz, its director general said in a statement, describing it as the company’s first such operation in decades, according to Middle East Eye.

Three tankers linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) struck in the Strait of Hormuz were already on the waterway non-compliance list, according to Mehr News. The vessels were identified as Al Ruwais, Sinbad and Mersin Prosperity, according to Al Bawaba.

An oil supertanker is in flames in the Strait of Hormuz after it was hit by a missile, Iran’s Fars news agency reported, in an account published by Middle East Eye. The attack took place eight kilometres off the coast of Oman, Fars reported, without attributing a perpetrator.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the offer to transfer part of Iran's enriched uranium to Russia remains on the table and that everyone had initially agreed, according to TASS. Putin also said he hopes the Strait of Hormuz will reopen and sanctions on Iran will be lifted, according to the agency.

Crude oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz have largely returned to levels seen before the Iran war, and about 40% of the region’s crude is now transported without transiting the strait, compared with 17% before the war, through Saudi and Emirati pipelines, according to The Guardian. At least 16.5 million barrels per day (bpd) left the region in September, equalling the pre-war average, excluding Iran, according to the global trade intelligence firm Kpler.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced it had captured a US Remus 600 unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) operating in the Strait of Hormuz for espionage. According to the Tehran Times, it is the second US underwater drone captured in less than a month, while Washington keeps its bid to reopen the passage. The IRGC warned that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and said it will continue confronting what it describes as dangerous movements.

Iran has received an official US response to its latest proposal to end the seven-month war, according to Iranian officials cited by the Hindustan Times. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, according to government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani, who spoke to the state-run IRNA news agency. Araghchi proposed reopening the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the US suspended its blockade of Iranian ports, released frozen Iranian assets and waived sanctions on Iranian oil sales.

Three Liberian-flagged oil tankers were struck by unknown projectiles while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, according to Marisks, cited by Reuters. The vessels were moving through the strait with their Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders turned off to avoid detection, according to a Marisks report released on Wednesday, and the tanker Al Ruwais had conducted a ship-to-ship transfer off Sohar, Oman, in late September to discharge diesel, according to Kpler data, according to Middle East Online.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said it has redirected 125 commercial vessels since mid-July, when the country resumed its naval blockade against Iran, according to TASS. The command said its forces redirected the vessels “to ensure strict compliance,” in a tally dated September 30. The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush is operating in the Arabian Sea in support of the blockade, according to Iran International, citing CENTCOM. President Donald Trump said the United States has “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz, a situation he described as “always subject to change”.

Iran’s conditions for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz [include an end to US military and economic pressure, the release of frozen or restricted assets and agreement on a safe shipping route], according to the Anadolu Agency. The proposal was conveyed to Washington through Qatar, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has received the US response, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani confirmed on Wednesday. President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is making every possible effort to ensure the success of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, and Iran says the Strait of Hormuz will not fully reopen until its conditions are met and US commitments implemented. According to the Hindustan Times, the government of Donald Trump had publicly rejected Tehran’s latest proposal to end the war, which the outlet describes as being in its seventh month.

Three vessels were struck by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on September 29, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said, according to TASS. The vessels include a crude oil tanker and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker, according to the Hindustan Times, which also cites UKMTO. There are currently no reports of casualties, and the ships’ names and ports of registry were not reported.

Indirect talks between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the seven-month war continue with Qatar as mediator, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, and Iran's proposal makes the start of wider peace talks, including discussions of its nuclear programme, conditional on the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said a vessel was hit by an apparent projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, causing a fire, according to Middle East Eye. According to Mehr News, the fire was extinguished, the crew was safe and the vessel continued its journey. The UKMTO said there was no reported environmental impact and that the extent of damage to the vessel was still being assessed.

The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, reportedly said in a public video conference on Tuesday, responding to recent comments by US President Donald Trump about the Strait of Hormuz, that in a region where Iran cannot sell oil no one else will sell oil either, and that if Iran’s security is not guaranteed no infrastructure will remain safe, according to AFP, in a report published by the Hindustan Times.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said he expects a formal answer on Tuesday from the United States (US) to Tehran’s proposal to open the Strait of Hormuz, according to France 24, citing Iranian state media. Araghchi said the current focus is solely on the Strait of Hormuz and the reopening depends on conditions communicated to the other side. US President Donald Trump called reports of an offer to Iran untrue and a hoax and said he offered nothing, according to the Hindustan Times.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Washington on September 28 to discuss regional security, including shipping safety in the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Yemen, according to Al Jazeera. Rubio said they also discussed Iran, Gaza and Sudan, while the Saudi state agency SPA reported that the two discussed political and security developments in the region and the situation in Yemen.

Oil pushed higher as Iran and the US appeared far apart on a new ceasefire deal for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg, in a text republished by the Hindustan Times. Brent was near $108 a barrel, climbing more than 3%, after discussions between the two sides appeared to hit fresh snags.

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said the United States would be forced to leave West Asia after suffering “painful blows”, in a statement carried by state television, according to AFP, in a text republished by The Hindu. In a written statement attributed to him, Khamenei said that “today, having suffered painful blows at the hands of valiant fighters and the guardians of the Strait of Hormuz, they [the enemies] do not venture beyond the Arabian Sea”, according to The Hindu. Khamenei, who has not been seen in public since the start of the war in late February, made the remarks despite attempts to revive talks aimed at ending the fighting, Middle East Eye noted.

QatarEnergy extended force majeure notices and will not be able to deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Italian utility Edison or some Asian clients while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, according to Reuters. Edison said QatarEnergy would cancel a further six cargoes, taking the total undelivered shipments to 35. Qatar exported just 18 LNG cargoes to end-August, down from 509 in the same period last year, according to data intelligence firm ICIS.

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) rejected the claim that Iran fully controls the Strait of Hormuz, saying in a post on X that such claims “are false” and that Iran “has no navy because American forces sank it”. According to CENTCOM, more than 1 billion barrels of oil have recently passed through the strait, demonstrating that Iran does not control the waterway, Middle East Eye reported.

Iran's UN delegation has no plans for negotiations, even as US President Donald Trump says he expects talks to resume soon, according to The Hindu. Trump told Axios on Sunday that he expected talks to resume soon, a day after he rejected Tehran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days.

The chief of Iran's Army Force for Coordination Affairs says that both sides of the strategic Strait of Hormuz are under the control of the country's Armed Forces, according to Mehr News.

US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian offer of a seven-day truce and of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Middle East Eye, and Brent climbed back above $106 a barrel. Brent futures rose more than 1% to $105.64 a barrel, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) at $93.11, according to the Mehr News Agency. Despite the rejection, Trump said he expects negotiations to resume, but said Tehran “overplayed their hand,” still according to the Middle East Eye.

Eight US Marines were injured two weeks ago when an Iranian cruise missile struck the ship they were operating on in the Strait of Hormuz, according to three US officials. The Marines were not seriously injured, but they sustained smoke inhalation and possibly traumatic brain injuries, with concussion symptoms such as headaches, the officials said.

The spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, General Hossein Mohebbi, said the Strait of Hormuz is a hunting ground for the IRGC Navy against US underwater vehicles and described the latest capture as both a technological and intelligence trophy, according to the Mehr News Agency. According to Mohebbi, the second prey captured is an Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish, an advanced autonomous underwater vehicle with sonar and precise navigation, worth several million dollars.

Iran stood firm on Sunday on the conditions of its plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, despite US President Donald Trump's rejection of the proposal. The plan calls for a cessation of all hostilities in West Asia, including in Lebanon, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and a return to the conditions of the ceasefire deal that fell apart a few months ago. Trump said in an interview with Axios that the United States will hold another round of talks with Iran next week. Araghchi said the country is fully prepared for the war to be resumed, including an apocalyptic war, and at the same time ready for diplomacy.

US Central Command denied the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claim to have captured an American underwater drone in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Middle East Eye. Spokesperson Tim Hawkins said the US maintains “positive control of all of our operational drone assets” and called the claim “clearly desperate”. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is prepared for a renewed conflict with the US while keeping the door open for diplomacy, after President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to Sputnik Globe. Araghchi wrote that “our conditions are clear, and any measure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz depends on their fulfilment” and that “only a negotiated solution can pull the parties out of this impasse”, according to G1. Trump told Axios he expects American negotiators to hold more talks with Iran this week, according to Middle East Eye. In Bandar Abbas, Basij forces and residents held a parade of the Janfada drill to show preparedness against potential enemy aggression, according to Mehr News.

London's Metropolitan Police confirmed it is leading the investigation into an incident overnight near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, with five men arrested on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act, according to Le Monde. The five were initially arrested on suspicion of offences under the Explosives Act near an air base in southwestern England used by the US Air Force. RAF Fairford is also being used by the US for strikes on Iranian missile sites targeting ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to France 24.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy announced the capture of a Remus 600, a US-made unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) the force called “terrorist”, in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Mehr News Agency. According to the force, it is the second vehicle of its kind seized in September 2026: on September 8, 2026 it had announced the interception and capture of another advanced US unmanned underwater vehicle near the entrance to the strait. Xinhua also reported the IRGC announcement, made on Sunday, September 27, 2026, about the capture of another “advanced smart” unmanned underwater vehicle belonging to the US Army in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met and held talks in New York late on Saturday on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, according to Mehr News. The two discussed bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments, the Iranian account says, and Araghchi told Fidan that the current situation, including insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz, is a direct result of US and Israeli aggression that began on February 28 and has continued in various forms.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said all his meetings on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly focused on presenting Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to Mehr News. He said the terms were presented in full to mediators, who conveyed them to the American side, prompting an initial reaction from the US president, though no further response has come back through the mediators.

The Strait of Hormuz now has only a handful of ships sailing each day, either at their own risk or escorted by the US Navy, a tiny fraction of the traffic that passed through the waterway before the first strikes on Iran earlier in 2026, according to El País. Qatar, the world’s second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), has been forced to cancel the bulk of its sales to the European Union (EU) and Asia citing “force majeure” over the closure of Hormuz. Continental reserves of LNG, key for industry and heating, are at their lowest in more than a decade and about 20 percentage points below where they usually stand at this time of year.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned it will attack US warships, even those in the Indian Ocean, if Washington launches a new war against Iran, according to Middle East Eye. The threat came after Donald Trump posted an image showing the Strait of Hormuz circled and labelled “Trump Strait”, hours after Iran said it had presented a seven-day plan to reopen the waterway.

Under the proposal Donald Trump rejected, Tehran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations in exchange for the end of the naval blockade, relief on restrictions to Iranian oil exports, the release of frozen assets and a ceasefire that includes an end to Israel’s combat operations in Lebanon, according to RT. Trump told reporters Tehran wants a deal because it is “losing so badly” under the American blockade.

Araghchi said Iran is waiting for the mediators to convey the definitive US position and will decide based on it, after Donald Trump rejected the Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. According to him, the strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the necessary conditions are met.

Iran’s Strait of Hormuz Administration warned that ships using unauthorised routes through the strait would face serious restrictions, according to Al Jazeera Arabic, cited by Middle East Eye. The warning came after Donald Trump said on Saturday that he had rejected the Iranian proposal to reopen the strait and end the Iran war.

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi called at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on all parties to the Middle East conflict to exercise restraint and pursue dialogue, hours after Donald Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day truce proposal. In the same address, Oman reaffirmed its commitment to continue efforts to secure navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi Arabia accused Iran at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) of flagrant attacks on civilian and economic targets across the region. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan condemned “flagrant” Iranian and Houthi attacks on his country and called for the upholding of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Donald Trump said on Saturday that he rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days. He said he “would also like to make a deal”, but that this one would not be acceptable, and said Iranians want the deal immediately because they are losing badly. Iran offered this week to reopen the strait and resume talks on its nuclear programme within seven days, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the UN General Assembly that normal maritime passage can be restored within seven days if the necessary conditions are met, with the choice resting with the United States.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused European countries of making every effort to hamper a peace settlement and disrupt the negotiations sought by Donald Trump’s administration, in a speech at the UN General Assembly. Russia, together with other responsible states, he said, stands ready to contribute to stabilizing Hormuz and the Gulf, which he called a strategically important region.

Donald Trump rejected Iran’s offer of a seven-day ceasefire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to The Guardian. The rejection was reported by The Wall Street Journal based on unnamed U.S. officials. The plan called for releasing $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, lifting sanctions on Iranian oil and ending the naval blockade on the country’s ports, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters. By Saturday, the United States had still made no public response, though reports indicated Trump had rejected the proposal.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met in New York with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, on Friday, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly. According to Mehr News, Araghchi briefed his Saudi counterpart on the memorandum of understanding between Iran and Oman on the safe shipping route in the Strait of Hormuz.

A spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, said the country’s advanced missiles are capable of destroying the multilayered air defense systems of the United States, according to the Mehr news agency. Mohebbi also said that the United States, despite having the world’s largest navy, was unable to keep the Strait of Hormuz open even for a few hours. According to him, only oil tankers of Iran’s trading partners are permitted to pass through the strait, and only with Tehran’s permission.

Iran treated the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz as the implementation of a memorandum of understanding already signed with Washington. According to the Russian agency TASS, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told CBS that the resumption of normal shipping through Hormuz should follow the memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington and that Iran remains committed to the text and willing to implement it. According to Sputnik Globe, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has sent Washington, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the strait and restart negotiations if the United States fulfills the agreed conditions, and under the plan the strait would reopen on day six and talks on a final agreement would begin on day seven. Also according to TASS, Pezeshkian conditioned a meeting with Donald Trump on the United States showing that it does not intend to overthrow the Iranian government. On the margins of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), the foreign ministers of Oman and Iran discussed efforts to ensure safe navigation through Hormuz.

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the country will allow United Nations (UN) nuclear inspectors to return, according to Middle East Eye. The statement is part of Iran’s proposal on the Strait of Hormuz, according to CBS News.

The UN under-secretary-general and head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Jorge Moreira da Silva, told Japanese broadcaster NHK that at least 45 million people in developing countries may face food shortages because of disruptions in fertilizer supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. He said the humanitarian crisis can be avoided if five to seven ships carrying fertilizer cross the strait each day.

Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume talks on its nuclear programme in seven days is conditioned on the United States lifting its naval blockade, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales and observing a ceasefire that would include Lebanon, according to The Hindu. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi detailed the proposal on September 24 at a private gathering on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, according to one attendee. Pezeshkian hosted the prime minister of Qatar on September 25; Qatar has served as a mediator, including during hours of indirect Iranian-U.S. talks at the U.N. this week.

Iran has conveyed to the United States, through Qatar, a concrete seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at the United Nations (UN) on Friday: if the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days. The timeline starts only when the United States accepts the plan — “if they accept this plan tomorrow, the seven-day period will start from tomorrow,” he said. According to Tehran, the steps required of Washington are all already in the Memorandum of Understanding.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear programme even if the United States accepts its proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which calls for lifting the naval blockade on Iranian ports, in a report carried by Middle East Eye. The same official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the waterway would remain closed until “all of Iran’s conditions” are met by Washington.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it will take “the necessary measures” to safeguard its national interests in response to what it called Colombia’s unjustified and hostile approach, according to Sputnik. The reaction follows Bogotá’s severing of diplomatic relations with Tehran, in force since 19 September 2026, according to Sputnik, which cited Colombian national security concerns, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s obstruction of inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

India and Liberia announced the creation of a “group of friends” on the safety and security of shipping and seafarers, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to The Hindu. India’s Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, called attacks on civilian shipping “simply indefensible”, cited repeated attacks in the Gulf, the Red Sea and surrounding waters, and pointed to two recent cases: an attack two days earlier on an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged bulk carrier in the Gulf of Oman that killed an Indian sailor, and an attack ten days earlier on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz that left a crew member missing, according to Firstpost.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi briefed his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the state of Iran’s negotiations and agreements with Oman to ensure safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, according to TASS. According to Moscow, the two agreed that only a diplomatic settlement can end tension in the Middle East, The Jerusalem Post reports, citing Reuters.

Imagery and intelligence support from Chinese groups has helped Iran threaten ships in the Strait of Hormuz and launch precision strikes on U.S. military bases in the Middle East, CNN reports, citing sources the network does not identify. The imagery allowed Iran to hit a U.S. base in Jordan in July 2026, a strike that killed three American service members with a level of precision that U.S. officials believe was beyond Iran’s capabilities. In May 2026, the U.S. government sanctioned three Chinese satellite companies for providing imagery that, according to Washington, “enables Iran’s military strikes against U.S. forces in the Middle East.”

Iran’s seven-day roadmap to end the war with the United States provides for an end to hostilities on all fronts, the release of at least US$ 12 billion in frozen assets, relief from sanctions on Iranian oil and the lifting of the naval blockade, with the Strait of Hormuz reopening on the seventh day, Al Jazeera reports. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the plan was delivered to Washington through intermediaries and that a deal should be sealed before the U.S. midterm elections, he told Al Jazeera.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in New York on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, Mehr News Agency reports. Miliband said the United Kingdom “will not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on UK soil” and urged de-escalation and diplomacy instead of prolonging the war, stressing the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to the BBC. Senior Iranian officials say Washington has four to five days to respond to Tehran’s conditions for reopening the strait, according to The Guardian.

Ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Gulf of Oman have reached their limits after Saudi Arabia diverted exports from the Red Sea, according to Reuters via The Hindu. Saudi crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz were on track to rebound to 3.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, up from about 900,000 bpd in August, according to data from analytics firm Kpler cited in the report. State-run Saudi Aramco has sold more than 60 million barrels for transfer off Sohar, Oman, this month and next, since its East–West Pipeline was attacked on September 13.

Colombia severed diplomatic relations with Iran effective 19 September 2026, according to The Rio Times, which cited Colombian radio station Caracol and the country’s Foreign Ministry statement. The government cited human rights violations, alleged Iranian links to terrorist and narcoterrorist groups, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and obstruction of the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and kept consular relations, according to the Venezuelan state outlet teleSUR, which also cited the ministry’s statement.

Yemen’s Houthis said on Thursday, September 24, 2026, that they had launched missiles and drones at a “sensitive target” in Riyadh and at Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, according to Al Jazeera; oil rose the same day: Brent futures for November ended above US$106.50 a barrel, after earlier exceeding US$108 and settled at US$106.60, up US$3.52, or 3.4%, according to The Vibes; according to Middle East Eye, vessel transits in the Strait of Hormuz fell to nine on Thursday, from 14 the day before and a 10-day average of about 18, preliminary ship-tracking data showed.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Thursday, 24 September 2026, that Tehran had given the United States a proposal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restart talks on ending the war within seven days. The text has not been released. Regional sources cited by The National describe a regionwide ceasefire of up to 60 days, a phased reopening of the Strait and an end to the US blockade. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a Fox News interview that the choice rests with Washington: “It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not.”

Three commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, below the 10-day moving average of about 15, according to preliminary Kpler data cited by Reuters and carried by Middle East Eye. All three were exiting the waterway, and the figure may change because some ships switch off their transponders on the crossing; the ballast liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Al Mafyar reappeared inside the strait on Tuesday, after last being seen outside it on 19 September 2026, according to Kpler and LSEG data. At Bab el-Mandeb, 22 commodity vessels crossed on the same day, against an average of about 26 over the previous 10 days. Before the US–Iran war that began on 28 February 2026, the strait handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day — the equivalent of a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. Maritime risk consultancy Marisks said on Tuesday that the Isle of Man-flagged crude oil tanker LR Stephanie was struck by an unidentified projectile while entering the waterway on Monday, 21 September 2026, injuring two crew members, and that the Liberia-flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier Al Maryah, managed by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), was struck while outbound on Sunday, 20 September 2026; neither incident has been claimed, according to the Reuters dispatch.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura terminal recorded its busiest loading day since before the war on September 21, 2026, as six very large crude carriers loaded close to 12 million barrels at Ras Tanura and Juaymah, according to shipping analytics firm Kpler, as reported by Middle East Eye. The surge followed disruption to Aramco’s East-West pipeline, which lets Saudi crude reach the Red Sea coast without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Kpler said some of the six vessels had already been flagged over the previous six weeks for undeclared ship-to-ship transfers or unusual port calls, which the firm says points to a longer-running pattern of changing vessel behaviour.

Iran’s state news agency, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), said an explosion was heard near Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz on the night of Tuesday, 22 September 2026, and that the cause and the impact were not immediately clear, according to Middle East Eye, which is covering the case in a live blog. No other source has confirmed the explosion so far.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, on expectations that Iran will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and that Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline is back in service, then erased much of the drop after US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly he believes a deal with Iran is possible after November’s midterm elections. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, fell 2.64 per cent to $97.69 a barrel at 3.09pm UAE time, while West Texas Intermediate dropped 3.20 per cent, according to The National, of Abu Dhabi. Earlier, Brent had fallen 3 per cent to $97.43 and US crude as much as 3.5 per cent to $92.40, according to NBC News. After Trump’s speech, US crude was back around $96 and Brent briefly rose above $100 again, NBC News reported. “I believe we will make a deal right after the election because it does not make sense for them not to,” Trump told the assembly. “Oil prices will come plummeting down, even lower than they were at the start of the conflict.” Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency called the reports about the reopening of Hormuz “unreliable and untrue”, according to NBC News, which says it has not confirmed them. Only two visible commercial vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, 21 September 2026, against about 125 a day before the war began on 28 February 2026, according to preliminary shipping data cited by The National. The US national average diesel price hit a record on Tuesday at $6.52 a gallon, up 82 per cent since the start of the year, according to NBC News.

European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she discussed with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in New York the diplomatic prospects for ending the war between the United States and Iran and for fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “There were no tolls or fees for passage before the war, and there should be none after the war,” she wrote on X, according to LaPresse and ANI. “Navigation must be free and unimpeded, both in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.” Kallas also said she raised with Araghchi domestic repression inside Iran, including the sharp rise in executions and death sentences.

Iran handed the United States its conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz in a meeting between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. According to Iran’s state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), in an account carried by The Tribune, the demands are the immediate lifting of the naval blockade, the release of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon. The meeting was requested by Witkoff, the broadcaster said. Witkoff wrote on X, in a post carried by The Tribune, that the two sides held “lengthy talks” through mediators who “shuttled between the two sides throughout the day”: “They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove constructive and promising. The mediators will continue their work.” Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, told the Vedomosti newspaper that Washington will have to accept the new legal status of the Strait of Hormuz, which he said will be defined by Iran and Oman, according to TASS.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, met US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York and conveyed Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state television IRIB, cited by Middle East Eye: the immediate lifting of the naval blockade, the return of frozen Iranian assets and an end to the war on all resistance fronts. The meeting confirms the direct contact that US president Donald Trump described earlier as a roughly three-hour meeting that was “very good” and “very productive”. The same day, the European Union (EU) high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Kaja Kallas, also met Araghchi to discuss free maritime passage in the strait and in Bab al-Mandab: “There were no tolls or fees for passage before the war, and there should be none after the war,” she wrote on X, according to Middle East Eye. Kallas said she also raised “domestic repression inside Iran, including the sharp rise in executions and death sentences”.

Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the 81st United Nations (UN) General Assembly that the Gulf is going through “one of the most dangerous phases” because of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and argued the crisis can be resolved through diplomacy, with the Strait of Hormuz reopened to navigation, according to Al Jazeera. He said the war is the “cumulative result of years” of postponing diplomatic solutions and called for a “regional system of collective security”, saying that without one “it has become possible for a war to erupt”. Sheikh Tamim called Israel’s expansion in the occupied West Bank “aggression” and said “what has transpired in Gaza is genocide in every sense of the word”.

The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, said on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at an energy forum organised by Foreign Policy magazine that Europe faces a “very harsh winter”, possibly one of the hardest in recent years, with gas storage at historically low levels, according to the TASS news agency. Birol said European countries have decided to phase out Russian gas completely by 2027 and can no longer receive gas from the United Arab Emirates and Qatar because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, pushing them to seek supply from the United States and Norway. European storage stood at 69% of capacity on September 17, 2026, below the 85% five-year average for the season, according to Reuters, which cites industry body Gas Infrastructure Europe.

Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports, according to a senior Iranian government official cited by Kyodo News and Reuters. The proposal, already conveyed to Washington through mediators, was approved by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council, Kyodo says; the official says Presidents Masoud Pezeshkian and Donald Trump will not meet in New York and that Washington must make its willingness to negotiate official before any step. Both agencies describe the same source, not independently verified.

A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, that Iran can reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States eases military pressure and lifts its blockade on Iranian ports. The official said the proposal was delivered to Washington through mediators on 16 September and that the Iranian delegation in New York has authority to revive diplomacy during the United Nations General Assembly; President Masoud Pezeshkian will not meet Donald Trump. The account comes from a single source speaking on condition of anonymity, and the US government had not confirmed the proposal at the time of publication.

Saudi Arabia restarted its East–West pipeline and could resume exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, according to Reuters, which spoke to three sources briefed on the matter; the line is pumping at a low rate. The 1,200-kilometre pipeline runs from Abqaiq to Yanbu and lets the kingdom move crude without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It had been shut after drone attacks launched from Iraq. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said on 11 September that the conduit was halted “as a precautionary measure” after “multiple attacks” and that there were injuries, according to the state Saudi Press Agency; the following day the Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and said the kingdom chose not to respond immediately, at the request of the Iraqi prime minister, according to the agency. Baghdad dismissed a military commander and opened an investigation after admitting the drones came from one of its provinces bordering Iran, according to BBC News.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, September 21, 2026, that his talks with Donald Trump in New York were “very constructive” and that there was a willingness to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blockaded during the war, according to the Hindustan Times. In the account he gave to reporters, “several solutions” were discussed that would allow, without a comprehensive deal, more container ships and tankers to move through the strait, along with the situation in the Red Sea, a route that has gained weight for oil shipments with Hormuz closed and where the seizure of a strategic strait by the Iran-backed Houthis has complicated navigation. On Ukraine, Macron said he pressed Trump to speed up the delivery of missile interceptors to Kyiv, “a defensive measure”, and said in a post on X that the two discussed the prospect of an “energy truce and a moratorium in the Black Sea”. Before the meeting, Trump had blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for part of the surge in diesel prices because of attacks on Russian refineries and called on him to stop hitting Russian diesel, according to Le Monde. Macron also met Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

On the eve of his final address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Secretary-General António Guterres told Al Jazeera the state of the world ‘is getting worse’, with the Security Council paralysed by geopolitical divisions and an ‘environment of impunity’ in which middle powers believe they can do whatever they want. He cited the combined effect of the war in Ukraine on food, fertiliser and energy exports through the Black Sea, alongside the difficulties in the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb and attacks on oil installations in the region, as devastating for developing economies. Guterres, who leaves office on 31 December, said the Security Council ‘still essentially represents the world of World War II’ and called for reform. According to TASS, more than 70 world leaders and 45 heads of state are attending the high-level week; NPR notes this is Guterres’s last General Assembly as secretary-general.

Kpler data cited by Reuters shows 22 tankers, mostly very large crude carriers, left the Strait of Hormuz in the week of September 13 carrying 42 million barrels of crude, with Saudi Arabia and Iraq accounting for 43% of the volume each. The VLCC Pinios was transferring 2 million barrels of Iraqi Basrah crude off Fujairah on Monday to another VLCC, the New Constant, which is expected to head to China. Houthi attacks on Aramco’s East-West pipeline have pushed the Saudi state firm to increase exports through the strait this month, and there have been no visible loadings from the Red Sea port of Yanbu since September 16.