Informative · Strait of Hormuz

Iran just admitted it is targeting ships to sway the US election

1 hour ago · 14 October 2026Share

The British large fleet tanker RFA Olna in the Persian Gulf region. — The British large fleet tanker RFA Olna underway as part of a multinational force stationed in the Persian Gulf region. File photo. PH1 T. Cosgrove, USN · Public domain

Iran just told Reuters why it's hitting ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Two senior Iranian officials say it's about oil prices. And the US midterm elections.

The vote is on 3 November. Iran wants oil prices high before then.

So here's the admission. The officials say this is a deliberate strategy, decided at the highest levels of Iran's government. Fully coordinated. Not random.

They won't say exactly what the new tactics are. But they say Iran started using different offensive tactics against ships it says are breaking its rules, about 10 days ago. And attacks have gone up since.

One official says quote "The aim is to frustrate efforts by the United States and its allies to bring down global oil prices."

So Iran's own officials are saying it out loud. The target isn't just ships. It's the price of oil. And an American election.

Here's the background. This war between Iran and the US and Israel started on 28 February. Since then, Iran has used its grip on the Strait of Hormuz as leverage against Washington. Before the war, that strait carried about a fifth of all the oil and gas traded on Earth.

And right now, attacks on ships there are at their highest point since the war began. At least five incidents in the last 48 hours alone. Tankers. Commercial ships. Drone strikes.

According to IMO data, this pace matches what was happening in early October. So this isn't a random spike. It looks planned.

A maritime security source describes it as a tempo increase in strikes that looks deliberate.

Both Iranian officials say they're moving towards something bigger. No ship that breaks Iran's rules gets through the strait at all. One official says quote "It will be complete closure soon." The same official says those ships would be safe nowhere. Even outside the strait.

And that's the twist. Iran isn't just escalating inside the Strait of Hormuz. Officials say they're expanding into the Gulf of Oman. And further out. Maritime security data on UKMTO reports already shows ships being hit off Qatar and the UAE. Both outside the strait.

The rest of this story is for members.

Now here's what's changed on the American side.

A US military official says Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy switched tactics after US forces destroyed much of Iran's radar capability. It now uses unarmed spotters in small boats to find targets instead. Including US warships.

And there's a previously unreported incident from last week. US forces found Iranian spotters working from a dhow. They told the crew to abandon it. Then destroyed the boat. Nobody was hurt.

The US Navy's own threat assessment, from the Joint Maritime Information Center, still rates the danger to merchant shipping as severe. That's the second-highest level it has. It says Iranian attacks, attempted attacks and harassment are ongoing. Drone flights. Watching merchant ships. Radio hailing.

So who actually controls the water? Both sides say they do.

Ali Azmaei, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard navy, said this week his forces are waiting for American warships to get closer so they can be sunk. He says the strait and the whole Persian Gulf are under his navy's control.

US Central Command says the opposite. It says American forces and regional partners clearly control the Strait of Hormuz, and that more than 19 million barrels of crude moved through it in a single day this week.

Neither claim can be checked independently.

And Donald Trump, the US President, says he won't attack Iran again before the vote. But at a campaign rally in Alaska this week, he struck a harder note, promising to hit Iran hard and telling people to wait and see what happens.

The Pentagon and Iran's Foreign Ministry haven't responded to Reuters about any of this.

This war is already costing around three billion dollars a month. And it's become part of the midterm campaign, a vote that decides who controls Congress. Oil prices are part of that fight.

So what don't we know? What the new tactics actually are, beyond the spotters. Whether Washington announces any new response. How long Iran plans to keep this up.

The election is three weeks away. Iran has just told Reuters it plans to be felt before it happens.

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Iran just admitted it is targeting ships to sway the US election

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