To Pressure Trump, Iran Changes Strategy for Targeting Ships in Strait of Hormuz

Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Iran is using new methods to target ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, in an effort to keep oil prices high and influence the US midterm elections.

Iran has sought to assert its control over the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel launched attacks against it on February 28. Tehran restricted traffic through the waterway, which carried about one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies before the war, in an attempt to gain leverage over Washington, although the United States maintains that the strait is under its forces' control.

Iranian threats and attacks have severely reduced shipping traffic through the strait, driving up oil prices, despite some oil shipments continuing to pass through.

The officials declined to provide details on the new strategy, but one said that Iran began using different offensive methods against ships it considers to be violating its restrictions about 10 days ago, adding that this led to an increase in attacks on those vessels.

The officials said the strategy included a change in the type and frequency of attacks, and that one of its goals was to influence the outcome of the US elections.

One official stated that "the goal is to thwart the efforts of the United States and its allies to lower global oil prices," according to his expression.

The officials said the decision to use the new strategy was made at the highest levels of Iranian leadership and was fully coordinated across various pillars of the country's ruling system.

For his part, a US military official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that Iran had fundamentally changed its methods, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began deploying unarmed observers on small boats to spot potential targets, including US Navy vessels, after the United States destroyed most of Iran's radar capabilities.

The official said the US military observed, in a previously undisclosed incident last week, Iranian observers operating from a sailboat and reporting targets to the Revolutionary Guard.

He added that US forces confronted the vessel, ordered those on board to leave, and then destroyed it, without any casualties.

The official confirmed that Iran, unwilling to risk its remaining fast boats, was unable to prevent an increase in oil exports through the strait, especially after US strikes destroyed its naval forces.