The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported late on Friday that it is struggling to accurately report the true number of attacks because the majority of vessels targeted are refusing to come forward. The organisation said it was aware of more incidents through other sources but could not verify them due to a lack of information.
Of the 12 vessels that were confirmed attacked, half continued to their destination or reached port. One sank, two were disabled, and three were either damaged or had an unconfirmed outcome. The UKMTO also reported a new type of attack on Saturday, when the master of a tanker said their vessel was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired from a small boat approximately 144 kilometres northeast of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, resulting in damage to the aft port quarter.
The month of October has seen the highest number of ship attacks since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28. The US has managed to increase energy transits through the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding waterways through a shuttle system coordinated with Arab powers, but volumes have oscillated weekly due to rising Iranian attacks.
Oil flows through the strait were at 11.6 million barrels per day over the seven days to October 13, about 68 percent of the 17.1 million barrels per day pre-war baseline, according to data from Kpler. Brent crude touched $110 a barrel on Friday for the first time since May, driven by the ongoing attacks and expectations that the conflict between the US and Iran was escalating. The situation has been exacerbated by Iran-aligned Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and their capture of the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
The US military has provided a starkly different outlook, though details of its account were not available in the reporting.