Tier-1 press (Reuters via MarineLink — Marisks vessel IDs, Oct 1 · AP via ABC News · Politico) · UKMTO warnings 144-26 to 146-26 (via bne IntelliNews) · Seatrade Maritime (UKMTO Sep 28 report / IMO list) · IRGC via Fars (Dawn) · Reuters markets · Trump remarks, White House Hispanic Heritage event, Sep 30 (Yeni Şafak transcript quote; Dawn / agencies)
Hormuz: Trump claims ‘virtually total control’ — the same week four tankers were hit
President Donald Trump told a White House audience on Wednesday that the United States has “virtually total control of the Hormuz Strait,” in the same week that late UKMTO warnings logged four tankers hit by unknown projectiles there in two days. Hours earlier, in the Oval Office, he had said: “We blow them up or make a deal.”
Key facts
- Trump (White House, Wed Sep 30)
- “We have virtually total control of the Hormuz Strait… in the last three days, more oil has come out of the Hormuz Strait than at any time in the history of the Hormuz” — Hispanic Heritage Month event (Yeni Şafak)
- Sep 28 (UKMTO late report)
- A vessel struck by an unknown projectile late on 28 Sep; fire onboard, later extinguished; crew safe · filed as suspicious activity · the IMO list of confirmed attacks carries a 28 Sep incident involving VLCC Al Funtas (Kuwait Oil Tanker Company), with damage and no pollution (Seatrade)
- Sep 29 (UKMTO 144-26 to 146-26)
- Issued 30 Sep as time-late reports: 144-26 a crude oil tanker struck on its port side · 145-26 a tanker transiting inbound · 146-26 a third tanker · source described as verified · no casualties, damage, flags or names given (bne IntelliNews)
- The three ships (Reuters / Marisks)
- Liberian-flagged tankers moving with AIS transponders off on Tuesday: Al Ruwais, VLCC Mersin Prosperity and Aframax Sinbad · ADNOC Logistics & Services, which manages Al Ruwais and Mersin Prosperity, declined to comment · Sinbad’s manager Anglo-Eastern did not immediately respond
- Who fired
- Not attributed: UKMTO did not say who fired and said authorities are investigating; a social media post blaming Iran is unconfirmed (bne IntelliNews) · damage to the three ships unclear (Vanguard, via Seatrade)
- IRGC (Fars, via Dawn)
- Spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi: “We have been hitting small ships and preventing them from passing for a long time, but America does not respond.” He did not name these ships
- Trump (Oval Office, Wed Sep 30)
- “We have to make that decision: We blow them up or make a deal” (Politico) · “It’s going to end very soon, one way or the other” (AP)
- Talks
- Iran says it has received Washington’s formal response (AP; Politico) · an official briefed on the talks says the sides largely agree on the steps needed but disagree on the order (Reuters, via Dawn) — see the boarded Pezeshkian card
- Brent (Reuters, Sep 30 settle)
- Expiring November contract up 91 cents at $103.50 a barrel, about 14% up on the month · the more active December contract settled at $98.03
- Live later
- Any UKMTO attribution, damage or casualty report · named fifth ship · Brent → HUD — no invented positions
We have to make that decision: We blow them up or make a deal.
President Donald Trump, Oval Office — Politico, Wed Sep 30 2026
Note
The late reports came in a run. UKMTO, the Royal Navy-run shipping desk, published a time-late report that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile late on September 28 and caught fire; the fire was put out and the crew were safe, and the IMO’s list of confirmed attacks now carries a September 28 incident involving the VLCC Al Funtas. On September 30 it issued warnings 144-26, 145-26 and 146-26 for three more tankers struck inside the Strait of Hormuz on September 29, with no names, flags, damage or casualties given. Reuters, citing shipping intelligence firm Marisks, named the three as Al Ruwais, Mersin Prosperity and Sinbad, all Liberian-flagged and moving with their transponders off. UKMTO did not say who fired.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesmanHossein Mohebbi told Fars that Iran has been “hitting small ships” for a long time and America does not respond. In the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said: “We blow them up or make a deal,” and that it would end very soon, one way or the other, as Iran said it had received the formal US response. The expiring November Brent contract settled at $103.50.
On Wednesday at a White House event, Trump went further: “We have virtually total control of the Hormuz Strait,” he said, adding that more oil had come out in the last three days than at any time in the strait’s history. No independent figure for that claim is cited here. The Pezeshkian proposal card stays on the board as support.
Why it matters
The president says the strait is under control. The shipping record for the same days shows four tankers hit and no one named as the shooter. Both can be on the board at once, and the gap between them is the story.
Sources
- Reuters via MarineLink — Three oil tankers come under fire in Strait of Hormuz
- Yeni Şafak — Trump says US holds ‘virtually total control’ of Hormuz Strait
- Dawn / agencies — Iran gets US response as Washington pulls out of Iraq
- bne IntelliNews — UKMTO reports three tankers struck in Strait of Hormuz (warnings 144-26 to 146-26)
- Seatrade Maritime — Four vessels struck in Hormuz in 24 hours
- Dawn — IRGC spokesperson says ships targeted in Hormuz daily (Fars, via Al Jazeera)
- AP via ABC News — Iran received official US response to latest offer
- Politico — Trump threatens to ‘blow up’ Iran as talks stall
- Reuters via MarketScreener — oil gains for day, month (Brent settle)
- Boarded: Iran — US formal proposal delivered to Pezeshkian
- Boarded: Trump rejects Iran’s seven-day Hormuz reopen plan
Primary + secondary attribution as listed.
More: Armed conflict
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