Oil Flows Are Up, but Iran Is Still Menacing the Strait of Hormuz

Almost every day in September, Iranian media outlets have published reports of explosions “heard from the sea,” an ominous sign that military activity is taking place in the Strait of Hormuz. But the reports left mysterious just who was carrying out the attacks. It turns out it was Iran itself. Confidential data shared with The New York Times by a Western security official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters shows that Iran has been launching dozens of drones and missiles at commercial ships in the strait each week, largely out of the public eye, though it has often failed to strike its targets. And on Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps for the first time appeared to confirm it was behind the near-daily sounds of explosions heard from Iran’s southern coast, saying it was striking targets in the Strait of Hormuz every 24 hours. “We prevent them from passing, but for some time now, America has not responded,” a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said in a state news interview. The aggression shows that even as oil exports from the Middle East have rebounded in recent weeks , shipping through the waterway remains risky, as Iran jostles to keep control of one of its biggest sources of leverage. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in . Want all of The Times? Subscribe .