Iran strikes tankers outside Hormuz in signs of expanding campaign

BREAKING: Iran strikes two commercial tankers outside the Strait of Hormuz within 24 hours, one off Qatar and one off Fujairah, in signs its campaign is expanding beyond the strait.

Iran has struck two commercial tankers outside the Strait of Hormuz in twenty four hours. One off Qatar, the other off Fujairah on the UAE coast, and that second location matters. Fujairah sits on the far side of the strait, the port shippers use precisely to stay out of Hormuz. You can see the kind of coastal missile fire Iran has been using here.

Until now this campaign was about the strait itself, the chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil. Hitting vessels beyond it sends every shipping company the same message. There is no safe lane around this.

Insurers were already charging war premiums on Gulf transits. Now the zone they have to price just got wider, and you can't route around it when the oil you're loading sits inside it.

The hardest fact tonight is simple. Two tankers hit in a single day, and neither one was in the strait.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.