Two Iranian Officials to Reuters: Iran's Tactics Have Changed; You Are Not Safe Even Outside the Strait of Hormuz / This Is Our Chess Game with Washington

As the US midterm elections approach, two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran has changed its tactics for targeting ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz and intends to increase maritime attacks and expand the scope of its operations to prevent a drop in global oil prices. According to the officials, this strategy has been adopted at the highest levels of Iran's leadership and is being pursued in full coordination within the country's governing structure.

According to Ambassador Arjan, Reuters quoted two senior Iranian officials and wrote that Tehran has used new tactics to target ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. According to these officials, Iran's goal is to maintain high oil prices and influence the American mid-term elections in November, elections in which the political composition of the American Congress and the majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate will be determined.

Iran has been trying to increase its control over the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israeli attacks on the country on February 28. Before the war, this waterway was the route of about one-fifth of the world's oil and liquid natural gas trade. By limiting the traffic on this strategic route, Tehran has sought to increase its pressure on Washington.

Iran's threats and attacks have severely reduced the traffic of ships through the Strait of Hormuz and have led to an increase in oil prices. However, some of the oil shipments still pass through this route.

Two Iranian officials declined to provide details of the new tactics, but one said Iran began using different offensive methods about 10 days ago against ships that Tehran sees as violating restrictions on passage through the strait. According to him, this change of approach has been accompanied by an increase in attacks on such ships.

These two officials emphasized that the new strategy has changed both the type of attacks and their speed and sequence, and one of its goals is to influence the outcome of the American elections.

"The goal is to thwart efforts by the United States and its allies to lower global oil prices," one of the officials told Reuters.

According to these two officials, the decision to adopt a new strategy has been made at the highest levels of Iran's leadership and its implementation has been fully coordinated throughout the country's governance structure.

The use of small boats by the IRGC to identify targets

A US military official, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Iran has changed its tactics in at least one important aspect. According to him, after the United States destroyed a major part of Iran's radar capability, the IRGC has started using unarmed reconnaissance forces in small boats to identify possible targets, including US Navy vessels.

The US military official said last week, in a previously unreported incident, the US military discovered that people doing reconnaissance for the IRGC were using a traditional regional boat known as a "dow" and were providing IRGC with information on targets.

According to him, American forces encountered this vessel, asked its occupants to leave the ship and then destroyed the vessel. This American official claimed that no one was killed or injured in this incident.

In the continuation of the Reuters report, it is stated that according to the American military official, Iran has not been able to prevent the increase of oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz due to its refusal to endanger its remaining speedboats. Especially after the American attacks severely weakened the Iranian Navy.

Cost of war and economic pressure on Washington

The war with Iran and its monthly cost of about three billion dollars has become one of the important topics of the American election campaign before the mid-term elections in November. In this election, the fate of Congress will be determined.

US President Donald Trump is considering next steps against Iran, but has said he will not launch another attack before the election.

Meanwhile, Washington is pursuing a naval blockade of Iranian ports and has imposed new sanctions on Tehran to increase economic pressure on Iran and push it toward an agreement to end the conflict.

The confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz has made the global energy markets vulnerable to further disruptions. The threat of attacks on ships and the increase in sea transportation and insurance costs have also made it more difficult for normal traffic to return to this waterway.

Attacks on commercial ships still passing through the Strait of Hormuz have reached their highest weekly level since the start of the war in recent days, according to independent data.

Based on the analysis of data from maritime security sources and reports filed in the British Maritime Trade Operations Organization, known as UKMTO, in the last 48 hours, there have been at least five incidents involving oil tankers and other commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, among them drone attacks.

This amount is almost equal to the number of incidents recorded between October 3rd and 5th. Data from the International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, also shows that the trend of attacks is intensifying.

"The increase in the frequency of attacks appears to be deliberate," a maritime security source told Reuters.

Expanding the scope of operations to the Gulf of Oman and the waters around Qatar and the UAE

Two Iranian officials told Reuters that in the framework of the new strategy, Tehran will expand the geographical scope of its operations beyond the Strait of Hormuz and will also include the Gulf of Oman and further waters.

An analysis of maritime security sources from attacks reported to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Organization and maritime security companies in the region suggests that this process may have already begun. According to this data, in recent days, ships have been attacked in areas outside the Strait of Hormuz, including the waters near the coasts of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The second Iranian official also emphasized that Tehran will not allow Trump to lower oil prices before the November elections.

Explaining this strategy, he said: "Just when they think they are close to a point where prices will decrease, we will push them away from that point. It's a chess game."

This Iranian official also warned: "Such ships will not be safe anywhere, even outside the Strait of Hormuz."

Reuters reported that the US Department of Defense and Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to Ambassador Arjan's request for comment when the report was published.

Iranian official: Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed soon

Two Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran is moving toward a situation where no vessel that violates Iran's declared restrictions can pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

One of these officials said: "Soon we will see a complete closure."

Meanwhile, the Joint Maritime Intelligence Center, led by the US Navy, declared the threat level against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to be "severe" in its latest report published on Sunday; The level that is the second highest level of warning in the evaluation system of this center.

Attacks and attempted attacks by the IRGC, or harassing actions against ships, continued, the center said. These actions have included drones flying over vessels, targeted surveillance of commercial vessels, and occasional very high frequency (VHF) radio communications.