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An oil tanker was targeted close to the Strait of Hormuz late on August 24, just as the United States was announcing an economic operation to sever Iran’s financial “lifelines.”
In an advisory notice, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) center said the tanker was struck by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman, approximately nine nautical miles northeast of the coastal town of Ash Shishah.
“The Master of an oil tanker reports the vessel has been struck by an unknown projectile causing damage to the engine room and disabling the vessel,” it said.
All crew members were reported safe, UKMTO added, noting that the environmental impact of the incident was not known at the time of the report and that authorities are investigating the incident.
The tanker, identified based on maritime traffic data as the Liberian-flagged Metro Venetian, was apparently sailing through the southern U.S.-sponsored route in the Strait of Hormuz, along the coast of Oman. This indicates that the attack was carried out by Iran, although the Islamic Republic has not yet claimed responsibility.
The attack took place around the same time the U.S. launched “Operation Economic Outcast,” a sweeping campaign intended to completely isolate Iran from the global financial system.
“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who announced the operation, told reporters during a press conference.
The U.S. is “no longer managing the Iranian threat” but rather “ending it,” Bessent said, adding that the “strength of America’s economy” enabled Washington to conduct such a financial offensive alongside military operations.
Directed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the “unprecedented” sanctions target Iran’s “most vital lifelines,” including aviation, shipping, gold, technology, and digital assets, he said.
Bessent also noted that the Treasury was blacklisting more than 60 entities, individuals, and vessels worldwide, significantly broadening secondary sanctions risks for any international party continuing to conduct business with Iran. He characterized the policy as the “economic asphyxiation of this regime.”
Following the announcement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Trump administration is not ruling out using military force against Iran after the sanctions.
“By no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran,” Hegseth told reporters, adding that Iran cannot handle the economic pressure being put on it.
Despite the increasing U.S. pressure, Reuters reported that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to just a single commercial vessel on August 24, with Iran keeping the strategic waterway — responsible for around 20 percent of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments — tightly under its control.
Citing preliminary data from ship-tracking firm Kpler, the news agency said only one very large gas carrier transited the narrow passage during the day, entering from the Gulf of Oman. That compares with six vessels of all types recorded passing through the waterway a day earlier.
Responding to the recent escalation by the U.S., Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh predicted “another defeat” for the Trump administration, saying the Islamic Republic has a “two-year plan” to counter Washington’s new sanctions.
“They have done everything they could to test the determination of the Iranian people and the country’s officials, but they have failed every time. It seems they wished to suffer yet another defeat,” Madanizadeh told state television.
“We’ve been waiting for these plans for a long time, and the government is and was ready and has a two-year plan to manage these events,” he added.
Amid this escalation, Pakistan’s interior minister, who accompanied the country’s army chief, Asim Munir, on a visit to Iran, reported “significant progress” in talks that focused on ending the war between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. on August 25.
Talks between the two sides focused on measures to prevent further escalation, reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and an expedited termination of the conflict, a separate statement from the Pakistani military said about the meeting between Munir and the Iranian leadership.
The two sides also exchanged views on regional peace and the way to arrive at a negotiated settlement to the dispute, the statement added.
“The Iranian President candidly shared his government’s perspective and we had a very constructive exchange on the issues involved,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said in a post on X.
Taken together, the latest developments — the tanker attack, the new sanctions and the mediation push from Islamabad — fit a pattern that has played out repeatedly since the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran more than five months ago: a cycle of escalation followed by de-escalation.
Washington’s economic pressure campaign is unlikely to force Iran into concessions, but it does raise the risk of sparking another round of direct fighting. At the same time, an outright end to the conflict, or a full resumption of open warfare, looks unlikely in the near term. What has emerged instead is a low-intensity, prolonged conflict that shows little sign of resolving on its own — one that could well outlast the Trump administration. For Iran, which has weathered the pressure so far without collapsing, that drawn-out timeline works in its favor.
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