DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A United Nations agency halted a ship evacuation operation through the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday after Britain’s military reported that a vessel off Oman had been struck by a projectile, shortly after several tankers traveled along a U.N.-supported route.
The chief of the International Maritime Organization said efforts to guide stranded vessels out of the Persian Gulf via the strait would remain suspended until the agency can verify safety assurances for ships on the evacuation list and others operating in the area.
Authorities had not determined who fired the projectile or what kind of vessel was hit. The reported attack came only hours after Iran warned ships against using the strait route without approval from Tehran.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the U.N. agency, said the vessel involved in the incident was not among those taking part in the evacuation effort.
After news of the strike emerged, Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority — a newly formed government body tasked with overseeing shipping in the waterway — posted on X that vessels traveling outside its approved routes “will not be covered by the guarantee of safe passage.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said the ship was damaged, though it reported no injuries and no environmental impact from the incident near Oman’s coast.
Creating an alternative route through the strategically critical waterway could ease strain on global markets while reducing Iran’s leverage in continuing peace negotiations with the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting the Gulf to reassure American partners, said Washington remained committed to the route and to keeping traffic moving through the strait.
“If that stops, then we’re going to have a problem,” Rubio said earlier Thursday.
Traffic through the strait increased in recent days but was still well below prewar levels. Oil on Thursday briefly dipped below its last prewar price of just under $73 per barrel, a sign that the market believes the situation is improving.
The U.S. and Iran are still debating terms of an interim peace deal, including issues such as getting ships through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf and addressing the future of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Under the memorandum of understanding signed last week, the U.S. and Iran have 60 days to iron out the details. As talks are held behind closed doors, U.S. President Donald Trump and Iranian leaders have seemed to negotiate in public, trading threats and claiming concessions the other side denies.
Meanwhile, a flare-up of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants threatened the wider truce. Lebanon says five people have been killed by Israeli strikes over the past two days.
More ships are passing through the strait, but far fewer than before the war
Oil tankers, led by the Stoic Warrior vessel, sailed along the United Arab Emirates and then Oman early Thursday, passing by Oman’s Musandam Peninsula fairly close to the shore. The route was laid out by Oman and the International Maritime Organization.
North of the route is a corridor in the center of the strait where ships moved freely before the war, transporting about a fifth of all the world’s oil and natural gas.
Iran said it mined that passage after the U.S. and Israel attacked it on Feb. 28. At least one mine has been sighted there.
Though some ships had been getting out of the strait, with U.S. military support, the U.N. agency’s effort was the latest to free trapped vessels. The shipping company Maersk said its container ship, the Maersk Baltimore, and another chartered vessel made it out on Thursday.
Last week, 125 vessels crossed the strait, up from 33 the week before, according to marine data and analysis firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
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According to S&P Global, Wednesday saw 78 transits, the most since the war began, but still below the daily prewar average of 130 or more.
Iran says the new shipping route is ‘unacceptable’
The naval arm of the Revolutionary Guard issued a warning Thursday against using the new route.
In a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, naval officials said the route was established without notice or coordination with Iran, calling it “unacceptable and completely dangerous.”
“The only authorized route for passing through the Strait of Hormuz is the one declared by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Iranian force said. “Vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited.”
“Violators will be dealt with,” it added, without elaborating.
On Wednesday, the Guard threatened one tanker over the radio, with a soldier warning, “You are in range of my missiles and maybe (I) fire on you,” according to the private security firm Ambrey.
Rubio says the US will ensure there are no tolls on ships
Rubio met with foreign ministers from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to assure them that their interests would be protected in any agreement with Iran.
Those countries, including major energy producers reliant on the strait for exports, came under attack by Iran after the start of the war.
“There is no part in this deal that’s undertaken that in any way undermines the security, the stability or the prosperity of any of our partners in the Gulf region,” Rubio said at the meeting in Bahrain.
Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, said the agreement brought a glimmer of hope but stressed that it was “critically important that Iran adheres to its obligations.”
Lebanon remains a flashpoint
A lull in fire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah that started Sunday began to show cracks after Israel said it targeted Hezbollah militants.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Thursday that three people were killed by an Israeli strike on a car in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has called the recent strikes a ceasefire violation but has not retaliated. The Israeli military said Thursday that it fired on two separate groups who it suspected of being Hezbollah members. The strikes came as Lebanese and Israeli officials were in Washington discussing a proposed phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
Israel’s military also said Thursday that a reservist soldier was killed and another hurt in southern Lebanon.
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Lee reported from Manama, Bahrain. Associated Press writers David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
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