Six commercial vessels were struck within a 14-hour window on Thursday across 200 kilometres of water, from the strait of Hormuz to Iraq's Basra Oil Terminal. The Safesea Vishnu (Marshall Islands-flagged tanker) and Zefyros (Maltese-flagged tanker) were both hit near Basra — both caught fire. One crew member was found dead. Thirty-eight were rescued. The ONE Majesty (Japan-flagged) was struck while anchored near Ras al-Khaimah, UAE. The Star Gwyneth (Marshall Islands bulk carrier) was hit northwest of Dubai. A container ship was struck 35 nautical miles north of Jebel Ali. Weapons used included anti-ship missiles, sea mines, remotely detonated waterborne IEDs, and — for the first time in Iran's own operations — explosive-laden unmanned surface vessels.
The expansion into Iraqi territorial waters carries consequences well beyond the immediate casualties. Iraq's federal budget depends on oil exports for over 90% of its hard-currency revenue. The Basra terminal complex — Al Basrah Oil Terminal and Khor al-Amaya — handles virtually all southern crude exports, approximately 3.3 million barrels per day. Iraq had already cut output by roughly 1.5 million barrels per day as the maritime war closed alternative routes. Attacks reaching Basra's anchorage force Baghdad into the choice it has spent the entire war avoiding: between its security relationship with Washington and its economic dependence on Iranian cooperation for border trade, electricity imports, and natural gas supplies. The International Maritime Organisation's cumulative tally before Thursday already stood at 10 vessels attacked, 7 seafarers killed, and 20,000 stranded in the Gulf. Thursday's six-vessel salvo nearly doubled the vessel count in a single day.
The drone boats are the tactical story within the strategic one. Iran has supplied similar weapons to Houthi forces in Yemen, where they were used against Saudi and Coalition shipping in the Red Sea, but had not previously deployed them from its own forces in combat. Drone boats are harder to detect on radar than incoming missiles, operate in shallow coastal waters where conventional warships face draft constraints, and cost a fraction of the anti-ship ballistic missiles the IRGC has been expending since 28 February. The pattern is asymmetric adaptation under fire: as CENTCOM destroys missile launchers and naval vessels, the IRGC shifts to weapons that are cheaper, more expendable, and harder to neutralise from the air. The IRGC declared on Wednesday that "not a litre of oil" would pass through Hormuz. Thursday's attacks show the blockade expanding beyond the strait itself — reaching the loading terminals and anchorages that were supposed to offer alternative export routes for Gulf producers cut off from Hormuz transit.
