Iran fired anti-ship missiles from Qeshm Island toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. The launch adds to a run of tanker incidents that has forced vessels to reverse course or catch fire since April 2026, in a waterway carrying roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply.
Iran fired anti-ship missiles from Qeshm Island and the Sirik area on its southern coast toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, the latest launch in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps campaign that has escalated throughout 2026. The strikes threaten one of the world's most important routes for shipping crude oil, a waterway that carries about 21 million barrels of oil a day.
Qeshm Island, Iran's largest in the Persian Gulf, sits at the mouth of the strait and has become the IRGC's main launch platform. Iran revealed underground missile storage on the island in 2021, and satellite imagery from March 2026 confirmed anti-ship missile systems deployed there. On August 10, 2026, launches from the same area reportedly targeted an oil tanker near Oman's coast, though Iranian and US accounts of the incident diverged sharply.
Washington has already struck back. In June 2026, Iran claimed launches were directed at US naval vessels; US Central Command denied the claims and answered with counterstrikes on Qeshm's missile sites. Between May and July 2026, US forces conducted multiple operations against Iranian military infrastructure on the island, hitting facilities Iran built specifically to absorb punishment and stay operational.
Tanker incidents have mounted since April
The current run of confrontations traces back further. On April 18, 2026, IRGC-linked gunboats fired on at least three commercial vessels, incidents documented by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. By May 28, the IRGC was firing warning shots at four ships it said were attempting unauthorized passage. July brought a sharper turn: two oil tankers were forced to reverse course or caught fire after explosions linked to IRGC activity, in separate incidents on July 21 and July 30.
A memorandum of understanding on safe passage, reached in June 2026 between Iran and the United States, collapsed without ever taking hold. Iran has since said the strait will not fully reopen without changes in US behavior.
The chokepoint's price stakes
The Strait of Hormuz carries between 20% and 25% of the world's seaborne oil trade, moving crude from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE and Iran itself toward Asia and beyond. War-risk premiums on vessels transiting the Persian Gulf have a long history of spiking on this kind of news. Tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman in 2019 briefly pushed Brent crude up several percentage points in a single session.
Two significant incidents in nine days in late July suggest the pace may be picking up. A single strike that sinks a large crude carrier, or draws a direct military response from a Western navy, would turn a persistent background risk into an acute market event.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Crypto Briefing
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