Ship attack reports near Hormuz reach record high as oil exports slow

JUST IN: Ship attacks near the Strait of Hormuz hit a record high, with 12 vessels struck between 5-11 October as oil exports slow, according to UK maritime agency data analysed by BBC Verify.

Twelve ships attacked near the Strait of Hormuz in a single week. That's a record.

The UK's maritime agency logged those strikes between October 5 and 11, the most since the US-Israeli war with Iran began, and six of them came on one Sunday alone. You can see one of those hits here, the tanker Petro Dolphin burning off Oman after a drone strike, more than 150 miles from the strait itself. Eleven Indian seafarers were rescued. Two are still missing.

Then on Tuesday, the container ship GFS Pride went down after being struck, and these are the pictures, the hull sitting in shallow water. All 21 crew got off. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed it was carrying contraband.

The oil numbers tell the rest. Flows through the strait have dropped to 12.6 million barrels a day, down from 15 at the end of September, and 17 before the war. The US Navy is escorting tankers through. Iran keeps hitting them anyway.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.