The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck MV Ever Lovely (Singapore-flagged container ship) with a drone while the vessel transited the Oman/IMO-designated southern Hormuz corridor, ~7.5 nautical miles southeast of Dahit, Oman. No crew injuries were reported; the vessel remains seaworthy but was diverted. A US official attributed the strike to Iran. The Persian Gulf Strait Authority immediately issued a pre-drafted statement assigning legal responsibility to the vessel’s owner, operator, and commander — confirming this was an authorized enforcement action, not a rogue incident.
This is the first confirmed IRGC kinetic strike against a vessel using the alternate corridor that had been enabling ~28 commercial transits per day — the only viable routing option since naval mines closed the central channel. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez paused the Hormuz evacuation plan pending a safety reassessment, freezing the pipeline for ~790 stranded vessels.
Iran has now closed both routes simultaneously: the central channel by mines, the southern corridor by enforcement. The MOU framework assumed IRGC restraint outside the mine zone. That assumption is falsified. Commercial operators now face a binary choice: transit an active mine field, or route via Cape of Good Hope, adding 10-14 days per voyage.
Key watches: (1) US formal response to IRGC attribution; (2) Lloyd’s JWC zone expansion to cover the southern corridor; (3) Chubb consortium coverage decision for the Oman route; (4) Brent at open — $74.43 pre-strike, revised fair value $76.50-$79.00; (5) VLCC rate reaction ($190K-$470K/day pre-strike; $600K-$700K+ expected post-closure).