Iranian military struck a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, potentially compromising efforts to reopen wide-scale shipping through the key waterway and prompting the International Maritime Organization to pause an evacuation of ships through the strait.
British military officials said a vessel was hit by a projectile off the coast of Oman after the passage of several tankers that used a route backed by the U.N. A U.S. official said the merchant vessel Ever Lovely was attacked by a drone being flown by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard; the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the vessel sustained damage but reported no injuries or environmental effects. Arsenio Dominguez, the U.N. agency's secretary-general, said the attacked vessel was not part of the evacuation effort.
Dominguez said the plan to move stranded ships out of the Persian Gulf through the strait will be on hold until the agency can confirm safety guarantees for the ships on the evacuation list and in the region.
Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority wrote on X that transit outside its own designated routes "will not be covered by the guarantee of safe passage." The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard, in a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, said the route was established without notice or coordination with Iran and called it "unacceptable and completely dangerous." "The only authorized route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran," the statement said. "Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited." "Violators will be dealt with," it added.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on a visit to the Gulf to reassure American allies, said Washington was committed to the new route and to ensuring that ships are able to transit the strait. "If that stops, then we're going to have a problem," Rubio said Thursday before the report of the strike. Rubio met with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and sought to assure them that their interests would be protected in any agreement with Iran.
The struck vessel was Singapore-flagged and identified as the Ever Lovely, a container ship tied to Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine, the vessel's owner said in a filing to the Taiwanese stock exchange. Evergreen said the ship was struck on its starboard side by an "unknown object," that its bridge windows were damaged, that the cargo onboard was safe and that the main engine and all navigation equipment continued to operate. The company said the ship's seaworthiness was not impacted and that it departed the Strait of Hormuz.
A review of MarineTraffic data showed at least 37 vessels had transited the strait or were in the process of doing so since Thursday's incident, with 20 of those ships taking a route far south of Iran that hugs the coastline of the United Arab Emirates and bends along Oman's Musandam Peninsula to avoid Iranian waters.
The International Maritime Organization had coordinated an alternative route and announced a plan to evacuate about 11,000 seafarers, but the operation was suspended after the attack.
Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority said it was "deeply concerned" and called the incident unprovoked, unjustifiable and a breach of international law. Iran has not publicly acknowledged the strike. A U.S. official said the White House was "aware of these reports and looking into them." The memorandum of understanding signed by the U.S. and Iran last week said Iran would "make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa." Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said safe passage "cannot be guaranteed through vague arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making conducted outside of Iran's considerations as a coastal state" and that any valid framework must be based on coordination with Iran, warning that "the result will be the suspension of the designated parallel route." Gulf Cooperation Council ministers issued a joint statement rejecting any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control over the strait.
On Friday, President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post, "The Islamic Republic of Iran shot at least four One Way Attack Drones at Ships transversing the Strait of Hormuz. One of the Drones solidly hit the upper deck of a large and very expensive Cargo Carrying Ship. Damage was done, but the Ship was able to proceed on its way. We knocked down three other Drones. Obviously, this is a foolish violation of our Ceasefire Agreement."