7.7.2026
Two tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz and Iran said there would be no more peace talks unless Donald Trump halted his repeated threats to restart the war, as millions of Iranians vowed vengeance at the week-long funeral of their slain leader.
The Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rekayyat reported that it had been struck overnight and its engine room set on fire. Maritime security sources said a Saudi crude oil tanker had also been damaged.
“Mayday mayday mayday. This is vessel Al Rekayyat, LNG vessel Al Rekayyat. We are being hit by drone on port side, top of engine room,” the Rekayyat’s captain said in a recorded radio call reviewed by Reuters. “Status: engine room fire and full of smoke. Unable to assess further damage.”
He said the crew were safe, but the ship had been disabled without engines or steering and called for help from any vessels in the area.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks. News website Axios reported that Iran had fired on two ships. Neither Washington nor Tehran commented directly on the reports.
The incidents, the first reported attacks in the strait since mourning for Iran’s supreme leader began last week, were a reminder that Gulf shipping remains unresolved more than four months after the U.S. and Israel launched a war they said would stop Iran from being able to threaten its neighbours.
Iran’s clerical rulers have exerted newfound control over the world’s most important energy shipping route, where they aim to install a permanent system to collect fees in what would amount to a huge shift of the balance of power in a region where Washington has acted as guarantor of security for generations.
Iran’s leadership has demonstrated its firm grip on the country during a week of mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with his daughter, granddaughter, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the first day of the war.
The war has been paused under an interim peace deal reached last month, intended to provide a 60-day period for negotiations on a permanent deal. A round of indirect talks in Qatar concluded last week with no sign of headway towards a lasting peace.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to resume bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job…. We can knock down their bridges in one hour, we can knock out their energy supply.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that under the terms of the interim ceasefire memorandum, negotiations on the final deal would “not commence if threats continue”.
“Honor your signature,” he wrote on X.
Oil prices, which have returned to around the pre-war level since last month’s interim deal let ships resume sailing through the strait, ticked up around 1% on Tuesday following the incidents in the waterway. Reuters
Strait of Hormuz...Iran takes action.