Iran has quite obviously been surging its attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to wreak uncertainty and economic havoc for the Trump administration ahead of the November midterm elections, undermining a recent recovery in Persian Gulf oil shipments.
The attacks are now coming so frequently it is difficult to deep track. One source tallies of recent days, "Twelve vessels were attacked between October 5 and 11, including six on Sunday alone, and on Tuesday a tanker and a container ship were struck by unknown projectiles, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), marking one of the most intense periods of attacks since the war began."
Other outlets also confirmed the single day record of six attacks this past Sunday. It some time for confirmation of all these vessels' status to emerge amid the fog of war in the contested strait.
The prominent and outspoken secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei, has meanwhile affirmed that the IRGC was striking vessels nightly, and is likely to keep doing so.
"We target five or six of these every night," he told state TV. "Hormuz is under the control of the Islamic Republic."
While the US has been touting a successful naval escort mission to get unprecedented numbers (for wartime) of tankers through the strait, Rezaei described that the US is merely using small craft to smuggle Iranian oil on to larger tankers out at sea, and then doing ship-to-ship transfer.
Tehran has claimed further that American naval ships don't dare come close to Iran's shores, on fears of being hit.
On Wednesday, Iran's military has announced yet another attack, this time on a container ship. Al Jazeera reports of the notification:
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says that a container ship "carrying contraband" and attempting to pass through "an unauthorized and dangerous route" in the Strait of Hormuz exploded and caught fire after striking a naval mine.
Overall for the month of October we've seen at least 24 foreign vessels targeted and hit by Iranian forces. If this keeps up, oil prices are likely to be soaring by month's end.
"At least 18 ships were hit between Oct. 1 and Oct. 11, according to the UKMTO, with another six attacks recorded by other European security sources, the Financial Times reported," the NY Post comments.