Missile Hits Tanker Off Oman, Araghchi on Hormuz Plan
An unidentified projectile struck a tanker near Buha, while Iran's foreign minister says Washington accepts a seven-day plan but wants extra guarantees.
For Serbia, which buys oil and fuel at world prices, the most immediate effect is what happens to the price of a barrel, and on Wednesday morning that price rose in early trading: Brent gained 0.78 percent to $109.64, while WTI reached $98.58. The trigger was a new strike on a ship near the Strait of Hormuz. The British maritime agency UKMTO reported that on Wednesday, October 21, at about 0145 GMT, an unidentified projectile hit a tanker roughly 11 nautical miles (about 20 kilometers) west of the Omani town of Buha. The attacker has not been identified.
What happened to the tanker off Buha?
The projectile started a fire on the ship, which was later put out. According to UKMTO, the tanker is at anchor, the entire crew is safe, and no environmental impact has been reported. The agency advised vessels in the area to exercise caution.
The same source records an earlier incident, on Tuesday: a projectile hit a tanker 30 nautical miles from the Iraqi city of Al Faw, with no casualties and no damage. Attacks on vessels trying to pass through the strait have become more frequent in recent days, it says, because Washington is escorting more and more ships through the passage while Tehran tries to keep control over who goes through. Before the war, which began with joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February, 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas moved through Hormuz, and the United States has kept up a blockade of Iranian ports ever since.
On Tuesday, the Revolutionary Guard navy claimed that a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil exploded and caught fire after hitting a mine south of the strait. According to that claim, the ship had switched off its radar and navigation and ignored warnings on a route Tehran calls the “unauthorized southern route.” The claim has not been independently confirmed. The portal previously reported on Iran’s claim that two tankers had struck mines.
What does Araghchi say about the seven-day plan?
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told Iraq’s Al Ekhbariya on Tuesday that Iran and the US are holding indirect talks through Pakistan and Qatar, and that Tehran has proposed a seven-day plan under which the strait would be fully open on the sixth day. In his words, Washington has accepted the terms but wants additional provisions, meaning guarantees. US officials have not publicly confirmed this.
“The negotiating table is still there,” Araghchi said, and, according to the Italian agency LaPresse, he added: “If they meet the conditions, the strait will be fully open.” The same source says neither Saudi Arabia nor Yemen’s Houthis have responded to Iran’s offer to mediate, and that Araghchi rejected any Iranian involvement in events in the Red Sea.
Sources differ on the tone of his remarks. Gulf News and LaPresse report that the US accepts the plan with a demand for guarantees. The Russian agency TASS, citing Araghchi’s interview with Iraq’s Al Iraqiya, reports a different emphasis: “Washington, not Tehran, is obstructing this process and closing off opportunities for dialogue.” According to TASS, Iran will not fully open the strait until an agreement is reached with Washington, and without one the restrictions on traffic remain in force.
Iran’s demands include a ceasefire across the entire Middle East, the unfreezing of Iranian assets abroad, and the lifting of sanctions on the oil sector. Parliament speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf speaks of seven conditions, and he told Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir, as reported by Gulf News: “We have nothing new to say; America cannot earn Iran’s trust unless it meets the seven conditions.”
How many US forces are arriving in the region?
Fox News, citing two US officials, reports that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit with the Makin Island amphibious group will arrive in the region by the end of November. In total that is about 10,000 people: roughly 6,000 sailors on the carrier and about 4,200 Marines and members of the amphibious group. The Roosevelt left San Diego on September 27, and the Marines followed a day later.
The carrier joins the USS George H. W. Bush, deployed since April, and the USS George Washington, which arrived in August as a replacement for the USS Abraham Lincoln. Fox News also reports that President Donald Trump, according to unconfirmed information, is considering renewed strikes on Iran.
How are Tehran and Tel Aviv reading the moment?
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a message on X on Tuesday to mark the birthday of Sattar Khan, a leader of the early 20th century Constitutional Revolution: “We will eat dirt, but we will not surrender our land.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was open about the goal on October 20, speaking at Tel Hai University in Kiryat Shmona: “We must complete the elimination of the Iranian regime, that is the primary goal.” His words do not show whether Washington agrees or has committed to further military steps.
