Two Iranian officials tell Reuters new strategy aims at US fuel prices
The Singapore-flagged GFS Pride sank near the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after being attacked the day before, maritime security sources told The Guardian. The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Cape Dao was reportedly also sinking close to the strait after being struck by a projectile on Sept. 23. Iranian state television broadcast footage of a ship — apparently the GFS Pride — tilted in the water and emitting a thick plume of smoke.
The two sinkings came as UKMTO logged at least five incidents, including drone strikes, targeting tankers and other commercial ships in the 48 hours before the GFS Pride went down. Six vessels were attacked on Sunday alone, according to UKMTO monitoring cited by The Guardian.
“There is a tempo increase in strikes, which looks deliberate,” one maritime security source told The Guardian.
Analysis by the Financial Times, cited by The Guardian, found 24 ships were struck in the two weeks to Oct. 11. Of those vessels, three were refined energy product tankers and two were crude oil tankers.
Iran’s account of the GFS Pride’s fate differs from UKMTO’s. State television quoted an IRGC statement saying the vessel had been traveling an “illegal and dangerous route” when it struck a naval mine. The broadcast said the ship had been carrying 2,500 containers. UKMTO indicated both ships had been hit by unidentified projectiles, The Guardian reported, in what the newspaper characterized as a development “raising questions over Tehran’s account.”
Two Iranian officials told Reuters the new attack strategy had been adopted at the highest levels of Iran’s leadership and fully coordinated across the country’s ruling system. “The aim is to frustrate efforts by the United States and its allies to bring down global oil prices,” one of the officials said. The officials added that the strategy included a change in both the type and pace of attacks, with one goal being to influence the outcome of the US midterm vote.
The Guardian reported the increased tempo of attacks appears to have caused a dramatic drop in oil shipments through the strait, as Tehran appears determined to demonstrate its ability to strike ships before the US midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. The newspaper said the surge of attacks suggests Iran is trying to fully close the strategic waterway ahead of the Nov. 3 vote.
A US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Guardian that Tehran had changed tactics in one significant way. After the US destroyed much of Iran’s radar capabilities, the IRGC had begun using unarmed spotters in small boats to identify potential targets, including American naval vessels, the official said.
In a previously unreported incident last week, the US military determined that Iranian spotters were operating from a dhow and calling in targets to the IRGC, the official said. US forces confronted the vessel, told its occupants to abandon ship, and destroyed it. There were no casualties.
Iran has repeatedly warned commercial ships not to transit the strait without its approval. The US military has been guiding vessels through the waterway on a route nearer to Oman’s coast.
US fuel prices have risen almost 70% since the start of what The Guardian characterized as Trump’s war on Iran, the newspaper reported. The Guardian described the Republican party as “bracing for punishment at the polls” ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. The newspaper also reported the Trump administration has blamed Ukraine’s attacks on Russian refineries for higher fuel prices, in what The Guardian characterized as an attempt to deflect attention from the war’s economic impact.