Last weekend (27 and 28 June), the Strait of Hormuz saw the first exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since the framework agreement of 17 June, with a laden crude tanker struck by an Iranian drone on the morning of Saturday 27 June and consequent United States strikes on Iranian military infrastructure. UKMTO raised its threat level for the Strait from moderate to substantial. The waterway remains open to commercial traffic but the security picture deteriorated materially and the mine threat persists.

On the morning of Saturday 27 June the crude tanker KIKU IMO 9329796, registered in Panama and reported as Greek owned, was struck by a drone while carrying a laden crude cargo understood to be bound for Fujairah. The vessel sustained damage to the starboard bridge area. All crew were reported safe, no pollution was reported, and the vessel remained seaworthy and continued its passage. UKMTO recorded the initial report as a strike by an unidentified projectile within the Strait, and MSCIO subsequently characterised it as a drone strike on the starboard bridge wing. United States Central Command attributed the attack to an Iranian one way attack drone.

Windward intelligence places the strike approximately nine nautical miles north of Khasab, Oman, whereas open source reporting drawn from the UKMTO advisory places the vessel approximately twenty two nautical miles off Ras Al Khaimah. Both descriptions locate the incident in the Strait approaches. The precise position is to be confirmed and members should not rely on either figure for operational planning.

The KIKU incident followed the striking of the Singapore registered container vessel EVER LOVELY on 25 June while it was leaving the Strait, after which the IMO coordinated evacuation corridor was suspended and remains paused. In response to both incidents the United States conducted two rounds of strikes on Iranian military, surveillance, air defence, drone storage and minelaying infrastructure on 26 and 27 June. Bahrain reported being targeted by Iranian drones at dawn on 27 June. Both sides have accused the other of breaching the framework agreement.

The Strait remains transitable but the kinetic risk to commercial shipping, including laden tankers on the Gulf of Oman approaches, is real and was demonstrated this weekend against a vessel that had no apparent connection to the conflict. The mine threat in the Strait continues and naval clearance operations reported as ongoing.

Members should expect naval presence. For tanker operators in particular, the combination of elevated provenance risk, sanctioned tonnage operating openly, and the suspension of the IMO evacuation corridor warrants heightened pre voyage diligence on cargo origin, counterparties and routing.