Global Oil Shipping and Strait of Hormuz

A British maritime security firm says three pairs of small armed boats belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps ordered the U.S.-flagged tanker Stena Imperative to stop its engines and prepare to be boarded as it transited the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, but the ship instead increased speed, stayed on course and never entered Iranian territorial waters. The incident took place about 16 nautical miles north of Oman’s coast, in one of the world’s most critical oil and liquefied natural gas chokepoints, and the tanker is now under escort by a U.S. warship en route to Bahrain. A separate British monitoring agency, UKMTO, confirmed that an unidentified tanker in the strait was hailed by 'numerous small armed vessels' and ignored orders to halt, while Iranian state-linked outlet Fars denied attempting to board a U.S. vessel and claimed a ship entered Iranian waters without permission. Tracking data from MarineTraffic showed the Stena Imperative remained in Oman’s maritime economic zone throughout, undercutting Tehran’s territorial claim. The approach comes days after a senior IRGC official threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. attacks Iran and as at least 10 U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier and several destroyers, steam toward the region while Washington and Tehran prepare for talks over Iran’s nuclear program and its deadly protest crackdown.