Iran’s declaration on Saturday that it was retaking strict control of the Strait of Hormuz added a new round of uncertainty, and increased peril, to navigation in the critical shipping route.
Less than 24 hours since it declared the strait open to commercial ships after the start of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, Iran’s military said in a statement that it had returned the strait “to its previous state.” It said that it would continue to exert “strict control” there unless the United States ended its own blockade of Iranian ports.
Before that, 19 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Friday and early Saturday, according to Kpler, a maritime data firm. Dimitris Ampatzidis, an analyst with Kpler, called that a “slight uptick” from before.
“Following the reported attacks on commercial shipping, the risk environment has clearly intensified,” he added.
At the same time, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations organization, which is administered by Britain’s Royal Navy, recorded two incidents of vessels being hit. Those ships, and several others, then reversed course.
In the first incident, the U.K.M.T.O. said, gun ships operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a force separate from its regular navy, fired at a tanker without radio warning. The ship’s captain reported that the crew were safe, the U.K.M.T.O. said.
In the second incident, a container ship was “hit by an unknown projectile which caused damage to some of the containers,” the organization said.
The Indian government appeared to acknowledge both ships as sailing under its flag. In a statement Saturday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it had summoned Iran’s ambassador and “conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident earlier today involving two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran had previously allowed safe passage to Indian merchant vessels, the ministry said.
TankerTrackers.com, a company that monitors global oil shipments, said that the Guards had forced two Indian-flagged vessels sailing through the strait to reverse course.
Kpler’s data said that an Indian-flagged container ship, owned by the French company CMA CGM, turned around as it neared Larak Shari, an island belonging to Iran that has become a checkpoint for Iranian authorities. Kpler’s data only tracks the movement of the ship and does not say whether it was hit.
Kpler’s data showed that three more ships, all belonging to CMA CGM, turned around on Saturday. The company declined to comment.
The Danish shipping giant Maersk said that its vessels would not pass through the strait until it was safe to do so.
“Since the outbreak of the conflict, we have followed the guidance of our security partners in the region, and the recommendation so far has been to avoid transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the company said in a statement.
At least 20 vessels have been attacked in recent weeks, according to the International Maritime Agency, an arm of the United Nations. In the last seven days, an average of one ship a day has successfully passed through the strait, according to Signal, a maritime analysis firm. Most shipping companies were waiting to see if the current cease-fire would hold, said Maria Bertzeletou, a senior market analyst at Signal.
“The strait is still in a danger zone,” Ms. Bertzeletou said. “The next 72 to 96 hours of actual tanker transits will determine whether confidence returns, or remains constrained.”
Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
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