Iran Cargo Ship Attacked Near Kesm in Strait of Hormuz

An unidentified missile struck an Iranian cargo ship early Sunday, September 13, in the Strait of Hormuz near Kesm island, killing a member of the crew a day before Iran and Gulf states are due to meet and agree on new rules for shipping through that stretch of the Persian Gulf. A significant share of the world’s oil still moves through the strait, so every new attack in those waters nudges global crude prices, and with them, indirectly, fuel prices at the pump in Serbia, which buys oil at international benchmark rates.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), Britain’s maritime trade agency, reported the attack late Saturday night, around 11 p.m. GMT, while Iranian state media put the attack in the early hours of Sunday morning local time. In its warning to shipping, UKMTO said: “An unidentified vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the strait.” A fire broke out on board after the strike, according to the report, and local authorities evacuated the crew.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA, citing the governor of Kesm island, reports that one crew member was killed and four were injured. The trade outlet Marine Insight reports only that there were multiple injuries, without giving an exact number. ABC News specifies that the vessel was an Iranian container ship and that the attack took place near Hengam island, close to Kesm. Kesm lies roughly 14 miles from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, according to the Associated Press (AP) and Marine Insight, and the island is key for Tehran’s control of shipping through the strait.

Who is responsible for the attack?

AP reports that the governor of Kesm blamed the attack on a “terrorist enemy,” without specifying who that might be. Marine Insight, however, writes that no one has claimed responsibility and that the attack has not been officially attributed to either the US military or Iranian officials. The US military has not commented on Tehran’s claims, even though it targeted Iranian tankers earlier in the war and is enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports.

A few hours before the attack, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on social media that Tehran would not bow to pressure. “Our people cannot be intimidated into submission. Iran will not surrender,” he wrote.

What is being negotiated in Oman?

On Monday, September 14, foreign ministers from the region are due to meet in Oman, where Iran and Oman plan to brief them on a proposed new regime for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Under Iran’s proposal, ships would enter the Persian Gulf exclusively through Iranian territorial waters and leave partly through Iranian and partly through Omani waters. Iraq has confirmed through its state news agency INA that it will attend the meeting, while Bahrain has said it will not come because it has no diplomatic relations with Tehran. As Srpske novine has previously reported, Tehran has billed the deal with Oman as a chance for countries in the region to decide the strait’s future themselves.

The attack near Kesm came just days after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis seized Mayyun island in the Bab el Mandeb strait on the Red Sea, an alternative route for global shipping traffic since traffic through Hormuz declined. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry shut down the East-West pipeline as a precaution on Friday after a series of attacks, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with US President Donald Trump several times within 24 hours.

Asked about that call, Trump would not share details with reporters:

Well, I spoke with MBS. He’s a good friend of mine, and it’s going to be, I can only say, resolved just fine. It’s going to be very good.

the US president said in Dublin during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on September 12.

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains roughly 90 percent lower than before the war the United States and Israel launched against Iran on February 28. According to a statement from the US Central Command on September 12, at least 100 ships were turned back or diverted from Iranian ports over the past 60 days because of the naval blockade Washington is enforcing.

Monday’s meeting in Oman is meant to show whether Gulf states can offer a joint response to a war they did not take part in but whose consequences, from oil prices to the safety of shipping, they have been feeling for months. Whether the new shipping regime under discussion will actually prevent attacks like the one near Kesm remains an open question heading into Monday.