US Disables Ocean Molica, Mine Hits Supertanker in Hormuz

On Saturday the US military disabled the Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel left an Iranian port and tried to enter the Arabian Sea without heeding repeated blockade warnings. A fighter jet struck her stern with a single precision munition, leaving the crew unharmed but the vessel dead in the water. It was the fourth commercial vessel disabled under the blockade (CENTCOM says 135 others have been turned around at sea before reaching the point of force).

That same day, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed a second incident: a supertanker roughly capable of carrying two million barrels of crude struck a naval mine and caught fire while attempting what Tehran calls an unauthorised southern route through the strait. The IRGC said the vessel had switched off its navigation systems before the explosion, which was visible from shore. No flag, no owner and no casualty count were released.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre had already logged nine attacks inside the strait this month alone. Even the day before Saturday's two events, Iranian state television was reporting heavy explosions in the strait from vessels it said had strayed into the restricted southern corridor. That tempo was preceded by the record-breaking week of tanker strikes that drew international condemnation, and followed on incidents like the strike on LNG carrier Maran Gas Mystras while she was exiting the strait, showing that specialised gas carriers offer no protection from targeting.

Transit traffic has collapsed. Before the conflict, roughly 125 commercial vessels moved through the Hormuz narrows each day; an IRGC adviser said about 10 were transiting in October. The strait normally carries around a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade, and the impact of the closure is now being felt in insurance markets and supply chains across Asia and Europe.

The premium to sail through has reached extreme sums. Shipping companies are advertising up to $100,000 a month for captains willing to make the passage, with some owners offering six months of extra salary for a single return voyage. An Indian marine engineer told ABC Australia that a captain who would normally earn around $22,000 a month can take home $143,000 inside the strait. Unions say some crew members are being pressured to sail under threat of replacement, and that those who refuse may be billed for their own repatriation.

The human cost has climbed steadily: the International Maritime Organization now counts at least 24 seafarers killed in 100 confirmed incidents since the Iran war began in February. Tehran and Washington are reported to be discussing proposals that could reopen the waterway within a week, though no agreement has been reached and transits remained at a fraction of pre-war levels as of Saturday.