key takeaways:
- The British military said two tankers were hit by shells in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7 in the latest attacks targeting ships passing through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. one of the tankers was traveling
- The attacks highlight rising tensions in a vital shipping chokepoint that transports about 20% of global oil and gas, amid disputes over transit routes blamed on Iran.
- US-Iran talks on reopening the strait have stalled following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as an investigation into the attacks continues.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Shells were fired at two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7, the British military said, in the latest attacks targeting ships passing through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre, one of the tankers was traveling off the coast of Oman and caught fire. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker was attacked after warnings were ignored, but did not directly claim an attack.
It was not immediately clear where the second tanker was at the time of the collision. The maritime agency said the ship was believed to have suffered structural damage, but no one was injured.
Tehran, which has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait is safe, is suspected of attacking other ships that have used another route closer to the Omani coast.
The US is keen to pursue talks with Iran aimed at fully reopening the strait, rolling back Tehran’s disputed nuclear program and permanently ending the war that began on February 28. Following previous attacks in the strait, the US retaliated against Iran and then attacked Gulf Arab countries.
In peacetime, one fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passes through the channel.
UKMTO WARNING 082-26
Click here to view UKMTO products⤵️https://t.co/WONv2QkMJu#maritime security #MarSec pic.twitter.com/mJIxl6Y93G
– UKMTO Operations Center (@UK_MTO) 7 July 2026
Meanwhile, talks between Iran and the US appeared to be stalled pending the burial of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the war. Mourners at his funeral have called for the death of US President Donald Trump.
Authorities took Khamenei’s body to the Shia seminary city of Qom, where mourners paid their respects on 7 July.
Tanker attacked in latest attack in strait
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the tanker was hit in the strait near Lima, Oman. UKMTO said the projectile struck the ship on its port side as it was attempting to sail south through the strait towards the Gulf of Oman.
The agency said there were no environmental impacts from the strike and officials were investigating.
Iranian state TV, citing unnamed sources, reported that Tehran attacked a tanker it said was carrying natural gas from Qatar. However, there was no official claim from the Islamic Republic for the attack.
The targeting of the Qatari ship “Al-Reqayat” during its transit near the Strait of Hormuz is a serious and clear violation of the safety of international maritime navigation, the security of global energy supplies and international… – د. ماجد محمد النساري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) 7 July 2026
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari said the targeting of the Qatari tanker Al Rekayat in the strait was an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation and global energy security. He described it as a “serious and clear violation” of international law.
In a post on Twitter he said Qatar held Iran “fully legally responsible” for the attack.
Iran’s Joint Military Command warned on July 1 that all oil tankers passing through the strait must use its approved routes. It also said US military interference in the strait would be “swiftly and decisively responded to.”
But the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational organization overseen by the U.S. Navy, told shippers on July 6 that the route around Oman “has been expanded and is available to all traffic.”
Speaking at the White House on July 6, Trump warned Iran that it “has to make a deal, otherwise we’re done.”
“I would love to make a deal, because I don’t want to impact 91 million people,” Trump said. “We can blow down their bridges in an hour. We can knock out their energy supply.”
BREAKING: President Trump issued a stern warning to Iran, announcing that the US is prepared to completely destroy the country’s infrastructure “in a short span of an afternoon” if a diplomatic deal cannot be reached.
“We’re going to win one way or another. We’re going to make a… pic.twitter.com/wFDBbvutlr
– Fox News (@FoxNews) 6 July 2026
Iran and the United States agreed to allow ships to pass without paying fees for 60 days as part of an interim agreement. But Tehran insists it should control the ships’ routes and then charge fees for passage, ending decades of practice in the waterway.
The US and several Gulf Arab countries say they will not agree to Iran charging a fee for passage through the strait. The attacks erupted across the Middle East ahead of an effort by Oman and the UN agency to launch a new route near Oman’s coast.
Data firm Kpler reported that at least 108 ships transited the strait last weekend using various routes.
Mourners gather in Qom for Khamenei’s funeral
Early on 7 July, Iranian state television broadcast live pictures from a helicopter of hundreds of thousands of people heading to the Jamkaran Mosque, just south of Qom, for Khamenei’s funeral. Shias believe that the mosque once hosted Muhammad al-Mahdi, the 12th and last Shia Imam, who disappeared in the 9th century and will one day reappear to bring justice to the world.
Pictures of Khamenei and his son, Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, were displayed on banners and posters of mourners. Mojtaba Khamenei has not yet appeared at the funeral ceremonies, which have been going on for several days. He is believed to have gone into hiding after allegedly being injured in the airstrike that killed his father.
At the height of the war, before the April ceasefire, Israel targeted top Iranian leaders, in at least one case possibly using their public appearances to fix its position. In this, the younger Khamenei has also been threatened with death.
Authorities have closed roads, airspace and daily life for the mourning, which began on July 4 and will end on July 9 as Khamenei is buried at the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad, his birthplace. Khamenei was 86 years old.
