DOMINANT ANGLE
London is deciphering the escalation off the coast of Ormuz through its own maritime surveillance centre, the UK Maritime Trade Operations, more attentive to the count of tankers hit than to the diplomatic negotiations in the Gulf.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The tanker El Gaia, flying a Panamanian flag, was hit by an Iranian missile and then by a drone off the coast of Oman; two sailors remain missing, twenty-three were rescued (Oman Maritime Security Centre, via the BBC)
- 02
The International Maritime Organization reports at least 22 sailors killed in 79 confirmed incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and the Middle East since late February
- 03
A report by the Pentagon inspector estimates the cost of US ammunition at $22.3 billion for the first four months of the war against Iran
ANALYSIS
London, 16 September 2026. The United Kingdom views the escalation off Ormuz through the prism of its own surveillance centre, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which reported a fire on board a ship hit by "an unidentified projectile" as it transited the strait on Sunday at dawn, according to the BBC. This technical report adds to a series of incidents documented by Oman: the tanker El Gaia, flying the Panamanian flag, was taken in charge by the Omani Maritime Security Centre after a fire broke out in its engine room, 1.3 nautical miles north of the Musandam Peninsula. Two sailors remain missing, twenty-three others were rescued; the ship was being towed on Tuesday towards an Omani port.
The versions diverge on the cause. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards mention naval mines on "a restricted and dangerous route"; the US military, on the other hand, insists: the tanker was hit by an Iranian missile last month, rendering it "inoperable", and then again by an Iranian drone this weekend off Oman, before being towed by a regional partner. A similar precedent, at the beginning of September, had cost the lives of two Filipino sailors on the Saudi supertanker Sidr: Tehran saw it as a mine, Riyadh as a strike. The International Maritime Organization counts at least 22 sailors killed in 79 confirmed incidents in the strait and the Middle East since the outbreak of the American-Israeli war against Iran, at the end of February — a strait through which until now a fifth of the world's oil and gas transited.
The United Kingdom also notes the cost of this war for Washington: a report by the Pentagon inspector puts the amount of ammunition consumed in four months at $22.3 billion, revealing fragilities in the American defence industrial base. Donald Trump said he is "open" to negotiation, specifying that the final decision is his. On the markets, crude oil rose by 1.82% to $103.24, Brent by 1.6% to $107.37, after the new wave of Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia on Monday and the postponement of the Gulf talks with Iran.