President Trump said on Friday that Iran’s attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz the previous day constituted a “foolish violation” of the fragile cease‑fire between the two nations, though he did not specify how or whether he would respond.
In a social media post, Mr. Trump said Iran had launched at least four one‑way‑attack drones, one of which struck the upper deck of a large, costly cargo vessel, and noted that the United States had intercepted three additional drones. He added that, despite damage, the ship was able to continue sailing.
His remarks followed Iran’s reiteration that it acts as the primary authority overseeing maritime traffic in the strait.
The attack on the Ever Lovely, a container ship sailing near the Omani side of the strait, appeared to be the first Iranian strike on a commercial vessel since the recent preliminary peace agreement between Tehran and Washington. It highlighted the difficulties of returning to prewar traffic volumes in the strait, a vital channel for oil and gas shipments.
Although the United States and Iran have agreed to restore access to the strait — with Mr. Trump declaring the waterway open to unrestricted navigation — the preliminary agreement does not detail precisely how this should be achieved.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday, reported by state media, saying the strait lies within Iranian and Omani waters and referencing a provision of the U.S.–Iran deal that Tehran claims permits it to regulate maritime traffic.
The agreement states that Iran would “make arrangements using its best efforts” to ensure the safe passage of commercial vessels, a phrasing that is vague and open to differing interpretations, according to Jakob Larsen, chief security officer at BIMCO, the global shipping association.
Mr. Larsen noted that some shipping companies and their insurers may deem the situation too risky to continue plans to transit the strait after Thursday’s attack, adding, “There are real fears that hostilities could erupt again.”
The strike occurred shortly after Iran, seeking to demonstrate its control over the strait, warned that the only viable route was through its waters. Vessels such as the Ever Lovely had been using a U.S.-backed southern route along the Omani coast.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, posted on social media on Friday that safe passage through the strait was “not guaranteed under vague arrangements, parallel routing systems, or decision‑making processes that exclude Iran as a coastal state.”
Oil markets largely brushed off the escalation; prices initially rose following the strike but soon fell as the steady movement of tankers eased supply concerns. Brent crude, the global benchmark, briefly slipped below $72 per barrel — a level not seen since before the war began.
Mr. Trump’s social‑media comments on Friday were his first reaction to the attack. Over the past week, he has posted intermittently about the Strait of Hormuz, including a statement that tolls would not be imposed for passage through the waterway unless the United States itself levied them.
Iran has held talks with Oman about imposing service fees on passing ships, a proposal that has provoked Mr. Trump’s criticism.
The attack followed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s departure from the Persian Gulf, where he had met with Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers in an effort to reassure regional allies about the preliminary Iran deal.
In a joint declaration after the meeting, the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries urged “free, unconditional and unrestricted navigation” through the strait and rejected any tolls, fees, or attempts by any nation to assert control over the waterway.
The attack caused the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency, to suspend its assistance program for hundreds of vessels stranded in the Persian Gulf. According to Lloyd’s List Intelligence, at least two tankers turned back after Iran’s warning earlier that day, and Kpler reported that the number of ships transiting the strait dropped to 54 on Thursday, down from 73 the previous day.
Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary General of the IMO, said that 115 vessels carrying roughly 2,500 seafarers had been evacuated since Tuesday. Although the evacuation program was suspended, some ships continued to transit the southern route of the strait, he added.
Dominguez said evacuations would resume only when the agency received guarantees that no further attacks would occur, and that investigations into the circumstances of the strike on the vessel were ongoing. He noted that the vessel had transited the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with the International Maritime Organization.
