A bulk carrier was attacked by a swarm of small vessels off the southern Iranian coast on Sunday as it headed north towards the Strait of Hormuz, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported.
The incident took place at 11:30 hrs UTC about 11 nautical miles west of the Iranian port of Sirik, UKMTO said in an alert. “The Master of a northbound bulk carrier has reported being attacked by multiple small craft. All crew reported safe and no environmental impact reported.”
AIS tracking data from Pole Star Global indicates the vessel was most likely the Liberian-flagged bulker Minoan Falcon, which was passing roughly 11 nm west of Sirik at the time of the incident before switching off its transponder.
Iran has increasingly used swarms of small fast vessels to harass commercial ships transiting the strait — the same method the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy used to seize the container ships Epaminondas and MSC Francesca on April 22, both of which were initially escorted to Sirik after being boarded.
The attack adds to a now-routine pattern of armed harassment of merchant vessels along the Hormuz approaches, which has driven up shipping insurance premiums and complicated fuel imports for Sri Lanka and other South Asian buyers. It comes as US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he was likely to reject Iran’s latest peace proposal, warning he could resume direct strikes if Tehran did not “pay a big enough price.”
Source: Ada Derana.
