A second commercial tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz this week as Washington prepares to deploy the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East, Iran and Oman discuss a joint navigation arrangement, and the Trump administration intensifies economic pressure on Tehran.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Another commercial oil tanker was struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, adding to mounting security concerns around one of the world’s most important energy routes as the United States prepares to send another aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization said the vessel was hit by an unknown projectile near Oman, causing a fire aboard the tanker.
“Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished,” UKMTO said.
“All crew are reported as safe and accounted for and there has been no report of environmental impact,” the organization added.
“Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO,” the warning concluded.
The incident marked the second reported strike against a commercial vessel in the Strait of Hormuz this week.
On Monday, a projectile struck the engine room of a Liberian-flagged tanker.
The latest attack occurred as Iran and Oman continue negotiations over a plan to jointly manage shipping through the strategic waterway. Officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that an agreement had been reached.
The proposed arrangement has become part of wider diplomatic efforts involving Iran, Oman and Qatar as the region attempts to reduce hostilities between Tehran and Washington.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani traveled to Tehran on Thursday for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said the meeting addressed both de-escalation and a possible framework for reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“During the meeting, the latest developments in the regional situation were reviewed, along with the efforts being made to reduce escalation and create appropriate conditions for dialogue, contributing to the enhancement of regional security and stability,” the ministry wrote on X.
“The meeting also addressed the ongoing discussions regarding the proposed phased framework, which includes the establishment of a temporary joint navigational corridor through the Strait of Hormuz, and agreement on the implementation of a joint project to clear the Strait of mines,” the ministry added.
The discussions also focused on the sovereignty of neighboring states and freedom of navigation.
“His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized, during the meeting, the necessity of respecting the sovereignty of neighboring countries and the freedom of navigation, affirming the importance of continuing diplomatic efforts to reduce escalation and address differences through dialogue,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said.
The diplomatic meeting followed Qatar’s announcement that its prime minister would travel to Tehran to “discuss ways to de-escalate tensions and create the conditions conducive to dialogue.”
Qatar has served as an intermediary between the United States and Iran during the conflict and helped facilitate a June memorandum of understanding between the two governments that has since expired.
Doha has continued pursuing that diplomatic role even after Iranian drone and missile attacks struck Qatari territory multiple times over the past year.
The negotiations are unfolding while the United States maintains a naval blockade targeting Iran.
Outgoing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the blockade remains in force and that President Donald Trump continues to reserve military options.
“As commander in chief, he, of course, continues to retain all options on the table,” Leavitt said, “and the naval blockade continues to be in effect as well, which has proven hugely successful.
“The United States is essentially controlling the Strait of Hormuz, which remains open thanks to President Trump and the United States military,” she said.
Washington is simultaneously moving from primarily kinetic operations toward a campaign aimed at financially isolating Tehran.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast on Monday, describing an effort to cut Iran off from revenue generated through oil smuggling and other channels.
Leavitt said the administration is now concentrating heavily on that effort.
“Right now we’re focused on Operation Economic Outcast, which Secretary Bessent announced this week, crippling sanctions on the Iranian regime and their economy, which we already know is in freefall,” she said.
“They are in a devastating place. Inflation is over 100%. They can’t pay their police. They can’t pay their military. They’re in a very weakened position already. And now Secretary Bessent and the president are continuing to pull every economic lever,” Leavitt continued.
She described the economic operation as the successor to Operation Epic Fury, the administration’s military campaign against Iran.
“And of course, this follows Operation Epic Fury, which was hugely successful in diminishing the Iranian regime’s military completely, wiping out their navy, their air force, and really crippling their military infrastructure,” Leavitt said.
“What President Trump’s number one goal has been, and will always be, is to ensure that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon, period. And so we’ve had Operation Epic Fury to destroy their military. Now we have Operation Economic Outcast to destroy their economy. No negotiations are happening right now, and this will continue until the president feels that maybe they come to the table in a meaningful way. We have not seen that yet,” she said.
Trump announced Aug. 12 that Leavitt would leave the administration Aug. 31 to spend more time with her family.
She said she nevertheless expects to continue advising the president informally.
“I look forward to spending more time with them, but continuing to serve the president as a top advisor on the outside. I’m grateful to him that he still wants me to stick around, just in a way that I can spend more time with family,” Leavitt told Fox & Friends.
The U.S. economic campaign is already changing Iran’s trade relationships.
Bessent said Monday that foreign governments and businesses must choose between continued access to the United States and maintaining economic connections to Iran.
“Those who stand with the United States will reap the rewards of our partnership,” Bessent said.
“Those who tether themselves to the Iranian regime should expect to share in the isolation,” he added.
The United Arab Emirates had already moved to suspend trade relations with Iran before the operation was formally announced.
In 2024, Iran relied heavily on four major trading partners — the UAE, Turkey, Iraq and China — according to the Associated Press.
China remains Iran’s largest market for oil exports.
Bessent is also preparing to take the campaign to the G20 Summit in Asheville, North Carolina, which is scheduled for Aug. 31 through Sept. 1.
A source familiar with his plans said the Treasury secretary will ask international finance ministers to “sever the economic leakage” that allows Iranian financial activity to continue abroad.
Bessent plans nearly a dozen bilateral meetings with foreign finance ministers and is expected to identify Iran-related financial activity in specific countries while emphasizing that Washington intends to target illicit revenue benefiting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The initiative expands on Operation Economic Outcast, which Bessent has likened to an economic “D-Day” against Tehran.
Iranian leaders have responded defiantly.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf said Thursday that Iran would defeat the United States in “an all-out economic war,” according to state media.
His remarks came as Iran’s currency fell to another record low, with one U.S. dollar worth more than two million Iranian rials.
Iranian state media reported that Ghalibaf urged the public to remain supportive of the government while acknowledging its shortcomings and arguing that officials had continued administering the country despite the economic damage from the war.
Iran is also attempting to restore its damaged energy industry.
Deputy Oil Minister Ahmed Zeraatkar said Thursday that approximately 40% of the damaged South Pars gas field had returned to service.
South Pars, located in the Persian Gulf and shared with Qatar, is the world’s largest offshore natural gas field and at one point supplied as much as 75% of Iran’s domestic natural gas production.
The facility was damaged in an Israeli airstrike in March.
As diplomatic and economic pressure intensifies, the U.S. Navy is preparing for another lengthy Middle East deployment.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is preparing to leave San Diego for the Middle East and relieve the USS George Washington, which entered the U.S. 5th Fleet area last week.
The carrier strike group’s deployment is expected to last at least seven months and possibly eight.
“They know they’re going to be there longer than seven months,” Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said.
“Their [commanding officer] is giving them eight months to plan on,” he added.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said prolonged deployments are not his preference but can become necessary during wartime.
“I would prefer, you know, seven-month deployments. I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that. But the enemy gets a vote,” Caudle said.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, U.S. carrier deployments have averaged approximately 8.5 months, according to the USNI News carrier deployment database.
The USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in May after a 326-day deployment, the longest for a U.S. carrier since the end of the Cold War.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, currently operating in the Arabian Sea, has been deployed for 279 days.
The arrival of the Theodore Roosevelt will deepen a U.S. naval commitment that is already drawing resources toward the Middle East.
Its deployment comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains the focal point of both military and diplomatic maneuvering.
Iran has largely restricted vessel traffic through the waterway by threatening strikes, while the United States maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has previously said the strait would not fully reopen until Washington changes its conduct, ends the war and compensates Tehran for damage caused during the conflict.
The latest tanker attack occurred only hours before the Qatari prime minister’s meeting in Tehran.
Energy markets have reacted to the changing military picture.
Crude oil prices hovered near $82 per barrel Thursday, extending losses for a third consecutive day as investors assessed a conflict increasingly characterized by economic pressure and diplomacy rather than the earlier pace of direct military strikes.
The regional confrontation is also affecting countries beyond Iran and the Gulf states.
Azerbaijan has faced increased security concerns along its southern border with Iran after Iranian drones struck the Nakhchivan exclave in March, The Jerusalem Post reported.
One Iranian drone hit the passenger terminal at Nakhchivan International Airport on March 5, while another fell near a school in the village of Shakarabad.
Azerbaijan has officially maintained neutrality while also developing close military ties with Israel.
International law and security researcher Farid Shukurlu said those relations have contributed to Iranian suspicions.
“Even though Azerbaijan’s position was formally neutrality, the country was still targeted by the IRGC in the Nakhchivan enclave,” Shukurlu said.
“The military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel is at an all-time high,” he added.
Baku has simultaneously attempted to balance its relationships with Turkey and Russia while continuing peace efforts with Armenia.
The Trump administration’s broader economic strategy toward Tehran resembles elements of the president’s earlier Maximum Pressure campaign against Iran, which sought to restrict revenue available for Iran’s nuclear and military programs.
For now, the military danger in the Strait remains immediate despite the shift toward sanctions and negotiations.
The identity of whoever fired the projectile that struck Wednesday’s tanker had not been established in the UKMTO warning, and authorities said the incident remains under investigation.
All crew members survived, the fire was extinguished and no environmental damage was reported.
But with two commercial vessels struck within days, Iran and Oman negotiating control and navigation arrangements, Qatar attempting to mediate, Washington maintaining its blockade and the USS Theodore Roosevelt preparing for a months-long deployment, the Strait of Hormuz remains at the center of the U.S.-Iran confrontation.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is expected to arrive as the United States continues enforcing its naval presence and Operation Economic Outcast attempts to make Iran’s remaining international economic relationships increasingly costly.
Even as Washington emphasizes sanctions over new offensive strikes, U.S. officials say the blockade remains in force and Trump continues to keep military options available. At the same time, the repeated attacks on shipping underscore how quickly the confrontation could again escalate around the waterway through which a significant share of global energy supplies must pass.
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