A British maritime agency said today that two ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz and suffered minor damage.
According to AFP, a “unknown projectile” targeted both ships yesterday, increasing the number of ship strikes in Hormuz that day to four.
The waterway is a crucial shipping route for Gulf energy exports, and Iran and the US are still fighting over control of it.
Washington has enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Tehran frequently strikes ships it claims are travelling without its consent.
A 50,000-ton container ship and another 19,000-ton vessel were hit, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO), although they were only slightly damaged and carried on.
The attacks did not result in any recorded casualties.
Yesterday, the CIA reported two additional strikes that targeted a container ship and a tanker, although it did not say whether there were any injuries or damage.
Four ships were the target of attacks, according to British security company Vanguard. The ships were identified as the Alfonso, flying a Barbados flag, and the GFS Pride and GFS Giselle, both flying Singaporean flags.
The Al Saadiyat, flying the Marshall Islands flag, was identified as the fourth vessel.
Vanguard reports that the tanker Alfonso’s fate is still unknown, while the cargo ship GFS Pride sank.
The other two ships kept moving forward.
Iran reported today that a ship struck a mine in the strait, caught fire, and sank, although it did not say when. Whether they were referring to any of the four ships that the maritime agencies had named was unclear.
A fifth of the world’s hydrocarbons typically pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has turned into the primary battleground in the Middle East conflict.
US-Israeli strikes against Iran in late February set off the war.
Since then, Tehran has maintained control over Hormuz and frequently attacks ships that it claims are passing through without permission.
In an effort to put pressure on Iran’s economy, Washington responded by imposing a naval blockade on its ports.
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