An Iranian commercial vessel was struck early Sunday (September 13, 2026) off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, with one person killed and four wounded, Iranian state media said, a day before Tehran seeks to brief regional countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping traffic there.

State-run IRNA news agency quoted the Qeshm Governor as blaming a “terrorist enemy.” He also said the person killed was among the cargo vessel’s 10-member crew, and that authorities had not yet identified the projectile.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor reported a vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the strait, with no details.

There was no immediate statement by the U.S. military, which previously has struck Iranian-flagged vessels as it keeps up a blockade of Iranian ports — while facing a new threat in recent days from Iranian ballistic missiles launched at its warships.

Qeshm Island, located about 22 kilometres from the port city of Bandar Abbas, is key to Iran asserting control over traffic through the strait.

Sunday’s (September 13, 2026) strike came as tensions continue around the waterway that was seen as an international one before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on February 28.

Global prices of oil, natural gas and related products have been sent higher, and now Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are pressuring a key shipping alternative, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. While the Houthis say they are targeting only neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government, markets are wary.

Iran on Saturday (September 12, 2026) said Foreign Ministers from regional countries will meet to discuss efforts by Iran and Oman, located on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, to manage shipping on it. Already, however, Bahrain has said it will not attend, and it was not clear what other nations would be there.

Iran has said reaching an agreement with Oman on the strait doesn’t mean it will open for shipping. “The waterway would be opened up on the condition that the U.S. will terminate its blockade,” Iran’s president told an Indian broadcasteron Saturday (September 12, 2026).

Commercial ship traffic remains low on the strait as attacks continue. Iran has expressed interest in having ships pay fees for transit. It has also said traffic into the Persian Gulf would pass through Iranian waters, while the outbound route would pass partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman’s. 

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday (September 12, 2026) that West Asia does not need the United States to be a “regional policeman”, with the two countries at war and vying for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

“We do not need a regional policeman,” he said on the sidelines of a BRICS summit in India during a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

“The territorial integrity and security of the region can only be guaranteed by its main players and the countries that comprise it,” he added, according to the Iranian presidency.

Iran has been at war since February 28, when U.S.-Israeli strikes killed its supreme leader.

Also read | Dangerous phase: On the crisis in West Asia

The Islamic republic retaliated with attacks across the region and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil previously flowed.

Iran and the U.S. have since been vying for control of the strategic waterway.

The strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.

Ships that do not comply are regularly targeted by Iranian strikes, while the U.S. periodically bombs the Iranian coastline to challenge the Islamic republic’s control of the strait.

More than six months into the West Asia war, the blockade continues to drive up oil prices, which soared past $100 a barrel this week.

“Despite all the injustices suffered by our people, we neither desire war nor its continuation. Peace remains our priority,” Mr. Pezeshkian added.

Iran said on Friday (August 21, 2026) that its response to any new U.S. threats would be “devastating” after Washington pledged to impose ‌the toughest financial penalties in history with the aim of toppling the Iranian leadership.

U.S. Treasury chief Scott Bessent said ​he would give details on Monday of the planned sanctions, which follow a warning from President Donald Trump of economic ⁠consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran.”

The chief of staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said the Islamic Republic’s reaction would be broad and decisive.

“With preparedness across land, sea, air, air defence and cyberspace, Iran’s armed forces will respond to the enemy’s new threats with crushing, ‌punishing and devastating responses,” Abdollahi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the country’s main negotiator in mediated talks with the United States, said Washington appeared to have concluded it could not prevail in its direct ‌military confrontation.

“We must make plans to deal with the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them,” he said in neighbouring ‌Iraq, accusing ⁠the U.S. and Israel of resorting to what he said was economic and “cognitive” warfare.