Iranian commercial ship struck near Strait of Hormuz with 1 dead

CAIRO: An Iranian commercial vessel was struck early Sunday off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, with one person killed and four wounded, Iranian state media said, a day before Tehran seeks to brief regional countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping traffic there.

State-run IRNA news agency quoted the Qeshm governor as blaming a “terrorist enemy.” He also said the person killed was among the cargo vessel's 10-member crew, and that authorities had not yet identified the projectile.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor reported a vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the strait, later adding that a fire had broken out and local authorities were evacuating those on board.

There was no immediate comment by the US military, which previously has struck Iranian-flagged vessels as it keeps up a blockade of Iranian ports -- while facing a new threat in recent days from Iranian ballistic missiles launched at its warships.

Qeshm Island, located about 22 kilometres from the port city of Bandar Abbas, is key to Iran asserting control over traffic through the strait.

Hours before the attack, Iran's government remained defiant. “Our people can't be bullied into submission. Iran won't surrender,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a US-aimed social media post.

Monday's meeting aims to brief regional countries on the strait

Monday's meeting returns regional attention to the Strait of Hormuz days after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen applied new pressure to a key shipping alternative, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. While the Houthis say they are targeting only neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government fighting the rebels, markets are wary.

Global prices of oil, natural gas and related products have been sent even higher.

Commercial ship traffic remains low on the Strait of Hormuz as attacks continue on what was seen as an international waterway before the US and Israel launched the war on February 28. The US has asserted that plenty of oil is getting out as its military helps to guide ships along Oman's coast, at the risk of attack.

Iran has said foreign ministers from regional countries will meet Monday to discuss efforts by Iran and Oman, located on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, to manage shipping on it. However, Bahrain has already said it will not attend, citing a lack of diplomatic relations with Tehran.

It was not clear what other nations would be there, and there was no new statement from Iran on Sunday.

Since early in the war, Iran has expressed interest in having ships pay fees for transit. It has said traffic into the Persian Gulf would pass through Iranian waters, while the outbound route would pass partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman's.

But Iran has said reaching an agreement with Oman on the strait doesn't mean it will open for shipping. “The waterway would be opened up on the condition that the US will terminate its blockade,” Iran's president told broadcaster India Today TV on Saturday.

There was some measure of optimism in the region about the planned meeting, with hope that Gulf nations might use it to assert a collective response to a war they had no part in starting. For months, they have faced Iranian attacks that Tehran has claimed target US military assets on their lands.

“Oman is hoping that by presenting this agreement with a reasonable level of regional buy-in, the Trump administration will be forced to recognise that the future of the strait will be decided by regional countries,” Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, who heads the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think tank focused on Iran's economy, said on social media.