Bulk Carrier Attacked by Small Craft Near Strait of Hormuz, Crew Safe: UK Maritime Agency

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a bulk carrier was attacked by multiple small craft as it transited toward the Strait of Hormuz. The incident occurred about 11 miles west of Sirik, Iran, according to a warning issued Sunday.

The vessel reported the attack directly to UKMTO, stating that several small boats approached and engaged the ship. Despite the encounter, all crew members were reported safe and accounted for, and no environmental damage or pollution was observed following the incident.

The UKMTO in an email to The Epoch Times said it had no other details, such as what country the several small boats were from.

The incident occurred near the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil transit chokepoints. Roughly a fifth of global petroleum liquids pass through the narrow waterway, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.

There has been a broader pattern of maritime security concerns in the region associated with the Iran war.

The UKMTO said it received 41 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman between Feb. 28 and May 2. Of those, 23 were classified as attacks, 16 as suspicious activity and two as hijackings, according to the agency’s latest summary.

On April 8, U.S. President Donald Trump said he agreed to suspend U.S. airstrikes against Iran for two weeks following a last-minute request from Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistani military leadership. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the pause was contingent on Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. The delay came shortly before a deadline he had set for Tehran to act, as Pakistan sought to mediate and give diplomacy time to work. Trump also said at the time that an Iranian peace proposal could serve as a “workable basis” for further negotiations.

The U.S. had three carrier battlegroups, 16 destroyers and more than 240 jets that are in the Arabian and Red seas looking for Iranian ships and tankers. The U.S. fleet is blockading maritime traffic using Iranian ports, but is not blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps controls which ships are allowed in and out of the 21-mile strait. Iranian ships are not being fired upon under the ceasefire.

The U.S. naval force is enforcing a 190-mile blockade that goes from Ras al-Hadd in Oman east to Kaij-e-Gavater Bay at the Iran–Pakistan border. That is more than 220 miles south of the Strait of Hormuz.