Iranian drone strike in the Strait of Hormuz tests Oman and a new U.S. understanding

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched a drone at a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, after what Iranian officials described as anger over Oman allowing ships to move through alternate routes without coordinating with Tehran. The strike halted shipping in the strategic waterway and has become the first major test of the recent understanding between Iran and the United States.

An Iranian official told the New York Times that Tehran views Oman’s approach as a direct challenge to its control over the strait. He said Oman is caught between U.S. pressure to keep the passage open and Iran’s insistence on managing the area without foreign interference. In his words, Oman cannot provide security guarantees for vessels there without Iranian involvement.

The attack took place off Oman’s coast and hit a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel. Two senior U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the Revolutionary Guards were behind it. Britain’s UKMTO maritime agency said the ship’s bridge was damaged, and no injuries were reported. The incident came hours after the Guards warned ships not to use routes that had not been pre-approved by the regime.

The confrontation could undermine a memorandum of understanding signed last week between Washington and Tehran, which was meant to last 60 days and pave the way toward formally ending the war. Under the deal, Iran pledged to do everything possible to ensure safe passage for commercial ships in the strait, while the United States agreed to remove the blockade on Iranian ports and this week eased sanctions on Iranian oil sales, allowing Tehran to sell oil in dollars for the first time in decades.

The fallout was immediate. Two days before the strike, the UN International Maritime Organization announced a large evacuation-and-rescue operation for hundreds of stranded ships in the Persian Gulf. That plan, which was to involve Iran, Oman, the U.S. and others, was suspended hours after the drone attack. The IMO said it was pausing the effort to reassess security guarantees for both ships scheduled for evacuation and others in the area, and noted that the attacked Singaporean vessel was not part of the UN evacuation mechanism.