The claim came from Iran itself. Iranian state television, citing the Revolutionary Guard Corps navy, said the seven tankers were hit either by Iran or by naval mines, and the same report repeated a threat to strike US military bases in the region if the United States keeps helping guide commercial ships through the strait.
No casualties were mentioned. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military monitor, did not report the attacks, and monitors have noted in recent days that some shippers are reluctant to report incidents at all.
Key numbers
- 7 oil tankers reported on fire or damaged overnight in the Strait of Hormuz, described by 2News, citing the Associated Press, as a markedly high number for a single night
- February 28 the date the war began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran
- 3 US aircraft carriers in the region once the latest one arrives, alongside thousands of additional troops
What is confirmed, and what is not
Tehran's account is the only account. None of the reports I read gives the names of the ships, their flags, their cargoes or the condition of their crews, and none confirms the damage independently.
The British monitor's silence is not a denial. It is the absence of a second account, in a waterway where, by the monitors' own admission, some incidents are going unreported.
Iran still asserts control over the strait, and the Hereford Times describes that control as a central point of leverage in any talks with Washington over the war.
Why one waterway carries so much weight
The strait is the exit route for oil, natural gas and related products such as fertilizer from the Gulf. The reports say a return to all-out war would endanger civilians across the region and complicate those global deliveries.
In plain words: the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow sea passage that tankers must cross to carry Gulf oil and gas to buyers. When vessels are damaged there, owners and their insurers have to weigh whether the crossing is worth the risk, and cargoes that cannot sail are cargoes that do not reach refineries. That physical bottleneck is why this one stretch of water is watched so closely by anyone trading energy.
The reports carry no crude, gas or gold price levels for Thursday. They describe the incident and the diplomacy around it, not the market reaction.
The talks behind the attacks
Abbas Araghchi, Iran's top diplomat, said on Wednesday that Tehran remains open to diplomacy but is ready to defend itself. Mediators have been trying to bring Washington and Tehran back to formal talks.
Iran is still promoting a proposal that would end the war and fully open the strait within a week if the United States meets several conditions, including an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports. Those conditions echo a deal that collapsed within days of the two sides signing it in June.
President Donald Trump rejected that seven-day proposal. Both sides acknowledge that indirect discussions have continued, and since the rejection, attacks on ships transiting the strait have increased.
Tehran has also warned that it has learned military lessons from the war and, in recent days, has indicated it could widen its targets to include infrastructure such as undersea cables and data centers.
What to watch
- In the coming days Israel's elections, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power
- Next month the US midterm elections, which the reports link to voter anger over war-related high prices
- Undated any statement from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations on the overnight incidents