Iran says it carried out a strike on a small Omani island in the Strait of Hormuz, targeting navigation and communications equipment used by oil tankers as U.S. Central Command continues enforcing a blockade of Iranian ports and escorting commercial vessels along the waterway’s southern route.
Three sources told Reuters on Wednesday that navigation systems and communications gear on Didamar Island, also known as Little Quoin Island, had been damaged. The reported attack has renewed concerns about the security of maritime infrastructure that helps keep oil shipments moving through the Gulf.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy carried out the operation. The agency alleged that the island’s systems were being used to assist vessels passing through the strait without Tehran’s approval.
Didamar Island in Oman is shown in a satellite image. (Google/Airbus/Handout via Reuters)
Iranian state television said the island’s personnel and equipment “were helping the flow of oil smuggling by the enemy.” The IRGC also claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Reuters.
Reuters footage showed smoke rising from the vicinity of the rocky island.
The Institute for the Study of War said its analysis placed the attack on Nov. 8, two days before Iranian state media publicly attributed the operation to Tehran.
The research group also cautioned that the damage may have been limited, pointing out that commercial ships continued traveling along the southern route after the incident.
“The extent of the damage to these systems and the systems struck remains unclear at the time of this writing,” ISW said in its assessment.
Satellite imagery from the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 program, reviewed by Reuters and dated Nov. 8, appeared to show scorch marks close to radar and radio equipment on the island.
A vessel moves through the Strait of Hormuz during a temporary two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran on April 8, 2026. (Shady Alassar/Anadolu/Getty Images)
The reported strike comes as U.S. forces conduct missions to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic passage linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
The U.S. Navy first established a blockade of Iranian ports in April after Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz in February amid rising tensions. Washington suspended the blockade in June under a temporary ceasefire agreement, then restored it in July.
Commercial vessels and ships from allied nations have been encouraged to take a southern corridor through Omani territorial waters. That route remains beyond Tehran’s direct military control and is monitored by CENTCOM.
The incident on Didamar Island occurred as Gulf oil producers work to rebuild exports disrupted by the conflict.
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An Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboat travels through the Persian Gulf during an IRGC marine parade marking Persian Gulf National Day near the Bushehr nuclear plant in Bushehr, Iran, on April 29, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Reuters reported that regional oil exports climbed back above 80% of prewar levels during September and October. The recovery was supported by CENTCOM operations and higher Saudi shipments routed through the Red Sea.
Shipping firms have also kept supplies moving through offshore transfers, moving crude directly between tankers near Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Didamar is Omani territory, making the reported strike especially sensitive as Iran seeks to interfere with maritime activity across the region. The small, uninhabited island sits about 10 nautical miles north of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, near one of the Strait of Hormuz’s main commercial shipping lanes.
For decades, the island has served as a visual navigation point for ships crossing the waterway. A lighthouse on Didamar dates back to 1914.
The island’s maritime facilities reportedly include radar installed on a tower approximately 25 meters high, along with radio communications equipment designed to help vessels navigate the narrow channel.
Didamar has also been linked to the Hormuz Control Centre, which helps manage maritime traffic in the surrounding waters.
A satellite image captures the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and supporting global energy supplies. (Amanda Macias/News Outlet)
Arabian Maritime and Navigation Aids Services, or AMMAS, has been identified as a regional provider of navigational infrastructure, including marine lights, buoys and related equipment.
The reported strike on Didamar follows other U.S. military operations against Iranian positions in the waterway.
On Nov. 2, U.S. forces attacked targets on Iran’s Qeshm Island. Officials characterized the operation as defensive and said it was aimed at Iranian surface-to-air missile threats.
Qeshm, which lies near the Strait of Hormuz, hosts Iranian naval installations and military facilities linked to the Revolutionary Guard.
President Donald Trump said on Nov. 6 that U.S. forces were still carrying out limited strikes against Iranian targets.
When a reporter asked about the operations near Qeshm Island, Trump replied, “I don’t want to talk about it. We do minor strikes. They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.”
