The United Nations has paused its escort and evacuation mission through the Strait of Hormuz, after an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps drone struck the container ship Evergreen Ever Love near Oman, according to reports Friday morning.
Reports from the region Friday morning state that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) struck the merchant vessel Evergreen Ever Love with a drone near Oman, prompting the United Nations to suspend its evacuation and escort operation for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The suspension follows the UN maritime agency's earlier halt of escort activities on Thursday night, as The Zioneer reported at the time.
The batch source, a single source with an active receipt, attributes the attack to the IRGC. The UN's decision to pause the mission underscores the growing disruption to maritime traffic in the strategic waterway. No independent confirmation of the strike's extent or casualties has been reported, and the source does not specify whether UN forces were directly involved in the evacuation operation's suspension.
The incident comes amid an ongoing escalation in the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, following an Iranian source's confirmation to The New York Times on Friday last week that a drone strike was launched after Oman opened an alternative shipping route without IRGC coordination. Separately, earlier in the week, the US Navy disabled an Iran-affiliated vessel in the region. The reliability of the current report is unverified beyond the single source.
3 developments
- DevelopingUN begins evacuation of ships from Strait of Hormuz
- StrongIranian source tells NYT: Drone struck vessel in Strait of Hormuz after Oman opened alternative route
- DevelopingCargo ship reportedly struck by Iranian drone in Strait of Hormuz, official tells CNN
- ConfirmedCENTCOM intercepts Iranian suicide drones targeting commercial ships in Strait of Hormuz
Source and signal
- Internal intake