Eleven Indian seafarers were rescued after the Nicaragua-flagged tanker Petro Dolphin came under drone attack near the Sohar Anchorage in Oman, more than 250km from the Strait of Hormuz. Two people remain missing.
The attack came during a week when Twelve vessels were attacked between 5 and 11 October, the highest weekly total reported to the UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency since the war began. Six were hit in a single day, another high.
The container ship GFS Pride also went down after an unidentified projectile hit it in the strait on Tuesday. Its Twenty-one crew members were evacuated safely.
The IRGC said GFS Pride had 2,500 containers of contraband aboard and had used an unauthorised route.
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At 09:09 UTC on 14 October 2026, the Strait of Hormuz was listed as restricted. AIS-visible commercial traffic was running at about 10% of normal, with 8.6 daily transits over the past week against 84.8 before the crisis.
Oil flow through the waterway stood at about 12.6 million barrels per day on 13 October. The figure was below 15 million at the end of September and the pre-war baseline of 17 million barrels per day.
The conflict began on 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel struck Iran. Iran declared the strait closed to hostile shipping that day, before attacks on merchant vessels began on 1 March.
The Islamabad Memorandum of 17 June led to a partial reopening of the passage. June traffic reached 12.9 AIS-visible transits per day.
The ceasefire failed on 8 July, and the US reinstated its naval blockade of Iranian ports from 14 July.
Experts say Tehran is trying to exert greater control over the waterway while the US military escorts more tankers through the southern part of the strait to avoid Iranian attacks. Assistance provided to vessels navigating the strait in the first 10 days of October was up 85% on the same period in August.
Iran has also extended more of its attacks beyond the strait, as the strike on Petro Dolphin illustrates.
US Central Command said commercial traffic was still passing through the Strait of Hormuz under co-ordinated protection by US forces and regional partners.
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