Hormuz: Iran’s IRGC fires on two Indian ships

One IRGC attack was reported 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman. Image: UKMTO

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is not going to return to normal any time soon. With CENTCOM continuing to impose the U.S. blockade on ships entering or exiting Iranian ports, the Iranian regime on Saturday again declared the Strait of Hormuz closed.

UKMTO reported Saturday that at 0920 UTC it had received a report from the master of a tanker that the vessel had been approached by two Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gunboats that had opened fire without any VHF challenge.

The incident occurred in the Strait of Hormuz 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman. The tanker and crew were reported safe.

The flag of the ship was not disclosed, however, TankerTrackers says that, according to two Channel 16 audio recordings captured April 18, two Indian vessels were forced back west out of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran’s IRGC Navy. Firing was involved. One of the vessels was an Indian-flagged VLCC supertanker carrying two million barrels of Iraqi oil.

Windward AI identifies the VLCC as Sanmar Herald, carrying ~1.8M barrels of crude,

Subsequent to these attacks, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi was called in by India’s Ministry of External Affairs for a meeting with Foreign Secretary.

“During the meeting, Foreign Secretary conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident earlier today involving two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” said an official statement. “He noted the importance that India attached to the safety of merchant shipping and mariners and recalled that Iran had earlier facilitated the safe passage of several ships bound for India. Reiterating his concern at this serious incident of firing on merchant ships, Foreign Secretary urged the Ambassador to convey India’s views to the authorities in Iran and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the Strait.”