US warplane bombs bulker off Hormuz as tanker attacks multiply

A US military aircraft fired precision-guided munitions at a merchant bulk carrier in the Gulf of Oman on Saturday, disabling the St Kitts and Nevis-flagged bulker Huda after it allegedly breached Washington's naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The 1999-built vessel, linked by maritime intelligence provider Pole Star Global to Turkey-based Embrace Shipping Management, had visited an Iranian port and ignored repeated warnings while attempting to leave regional waters, according to US Central Command. CENTCOM said the crew had been instructed to leave the targeted areas before the strike. The vessel was disabled.

The strike capped an extraordinary 72 hours around the Strait of Hormuz: two tankers ablaze within an hour of each other on Saturday evening, fresh Iranian warnings about naval mines, and explosions reported along Iran's southern coastline.

What happened to the tankers?

The first Saturday incident occurred at approximately 19.20 UTC, eight nautical miles northwest of Khasab, Oman, where a tanker caught fire and its crew was evacuated, according to incident reports from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). Unverified footage circulating online showed a substantial blaze, with firefighting tugs attending the scene.

Open-source analysts have tentatively identified the vessel as the Navig8 Messi, an ADNOC-linked products tanker previously attacked by Iranian drones in August. The identification remains unconfirmed.

An hour later, a second outbound tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the Strait. UKMTO reported all crew safe and accounted for, with no environmental damage identified.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy claimed both tankers had struck naval mines after using unauthorised routes through the Strait with navigation systems switched off. The semi-official Fars news agency reported a third tanker suffering an explosion and fire. None of the Iranian claims has been independently substantiated. Whether the blasts came from mines, missiles or drones remains unclear.

A further attack was reported on Friday, when an outbound tanker suffered an explosion at the port-side waterline roughly 16 nautical miles east of Khasab. The crew escaped injury and the vessel continued under its own power.

Separately, the UAE National Guard said on Sunday it had rescued 22 Arab seafarers from a burning cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman, all in stable condition. Authorities have not identified the ship or confirmed any connection to the conflict.

How is the war reshaping tanker economics?

The violence is rewriting Gulf logistics. BRS Shipbrokers counts 141 tankers now dedicated to shuttling crude and products from Gulf terminals through Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman or India's west coast, where cargoes transfer onto other vessels. VLCCs make up 72% of that shuttle fleet.

The price signal is stark. Crude sold for lifting inside the Gulf has traded at discounts of up to $45 per barrel against Gulf of Oman delivery.

Combined with grey-fleet activity, shuttling has cut the VLCC fleet effectively available for mainstream business to 639 ships, or 68% of active tonnage. Shuttle turnarounds have improved to 14 days, from 25 in August, but ship-to-ship transfer delays can still stretch into weeks.

What else is escalating?

Explosions were reported on Saturday around Qeshm Island, Bandar Abbas, Sirik and Jask, though Iranian state media suggested some blasts stemmed from Iranian military operations rather than American strikes. US president Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that American forces had carried out limited strikes against Iranian air defences, describing the action as minor.

Washington is also tightening the economic screw. CENTCOM announced the establishment of Task Force Iron Gate over the weekend, extending efforts to disrupt Iranian weapons supplies and sanctioned trade through land borders and the Caspian Sea.

For charterers, the calculus is now structural rather than tactical. BRS argues even a peace agreement would be unlikely to dismantle these costly shuttle networks, with Middle Eastern producers increasingly treating their tanker fleets as strategically important energy infrastructure — a posture that keeps a quarter of the world's effective VLCC capacity parked in logistics workarounds for the foreseeable future.