Hormuz hostilities pick up as two tankers reportedly struck

Grant Smith, Weilun Soon, Eltaf Najafizada, Bloomberg News on Sep 1, 2026

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Two oil supertankers attempting to exit the Strait of Hormuz were struck by projectiles late Monday, maritime security consultant Marisks said, the latest sign of renewed hostilities around the critical waterway.

The very large crude carrier Sidr, run by Saudi Arabia’s Bahri shipping company, was hit while sailing northeast of Khasab, Oman, the Athens-based group said. The Senegal Prosperity, operated by South Korea’s Sinokor Group, was struck by three projectiles while traveling east of the same country, it said. Both were exiting the Persian Gulf, according to Marisks.

While no one claimed responsibility for the attacks, the reports followed a resumption of tit-for-tat strikes between the U.S. and Iran over control of the strait earlier on Monday. The U.S. said it targeted Iranian rocket launchers that were preparing to send mines into the strait, and Iran retaliated with attacks on the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

There were no reports of strikes taking place on Tuesday.

The exchanges followed weeks of relative calm, during which President Donald Trump’s administration looked to pivot from military action to additional economic measures to pressure Tehran. Oil shipments through Hormuz recovered to roughly half of pre-war levels as a result of the dip in attacks, thanks in part to clandestine shuttle runs from major Middle East producers.

Oil prices jumped on Tuesday on concern that a revival in hostilities would derail that recovery, with Brent crude trading about 1.7% higher at more than $92 barrel. Any sustained return to fighting risks driving up energy costs and inflation, which would unnerve global investors and complicate Republicans’ efforts to retain control of the U.S. Congress in November’s midterm elections.

For Iran, a resumption in near prewar shipping volumes risks undermining its leverage in any future peace negotiations.

Bahri and Sinokor didn’t respond to requests for comment. Both supertankers had deactivated the AIS transponders that reveal their location, according to Marisks.

The U.S. and Iran have shown little appetite to resume negotiations to end the war, which has been in effective stalemate since the collapse of an interim peace agreement signed more than two months ago.

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday that mediation efforts to break the impasse are ongoing, while Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation he “firmly believes” the peace framework agreed upon in Islamabad in June offers the best prospect for peace.

Qatar and Pakistan are the main mediators between the two sides.

Also speaking at the SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan, Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian played down the prospect of a resumption in formal talks.

“Repeated U.S. violations of commitments under the Islamabad memorandum showed that even when the parties reach a political framework to stop the conflict and begin negotiations, the lack of effective enforcement mechanisms and a return to a policy of pressure and threats can cause diplomacy to fail,” he said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA.

Pezeshkian’s appearance at the SCO came over a week after the U.S. launched a campaign to further isolate Iran, warning countries not to engage with the Islamic Republic or face punishment from Washington. There’s been little sign of Iran’s business or trade partners responding to the threat so far, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among SCO attendees saying they wanted to strengthen relations.

The U.S. and Iran have issued conflicting reports on safety of navigation in the strait, with a top U.S. commander declaring “international shipping lanes are open” after American forces had cleared Iranian mines. That statement, which followed similar claims from Trump, has been privately doubted by U.S. allies, Bloomberg reported last week.

Iranian state TV reported on Monday that a supertanker was stuck by mines, citing a statement by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The latest Strait of Hormuz attack shines a spotlight on Saudi Arabia’s recent exports via the waterway, after state-owned producer Aramco resumed loadings from Ras Tanura and began offering cargoes from the Gulf of Oman via tenders. For months, Aramco had focused on diverting as much oil as possible to its Red Sea ports including Yanbu, and offering cargoes from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, with Iran-backed Houthis targeting those flows.

The Sidr is now anchored in the middle of the strait near the Omani coast, ship-tracking data show. The tanker has been sailing dark since Aug. 20 and was last seen off Fujairah, on the UAE’s eastern coast. Senegal Prosperity was last seen laden and leaving Saudi Arabia’s Juaymah in late August, before going dark.

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—With assistance from Serene Cheong, Tooba Khan and Anthony Di Paola.