Three tankers, including the Qatari LNG carrier Al Rekayyat, were struck within hours of each other in the Strait of Hormuz on July 7, prompting Qatar to warn Iran it will bear "full legal responsibility" for the attacks The Guardian. Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari described the strikes as a "serious and explicit violation" of international law and an act of aggression for which Doha will hold Tehran fully accountable The Guardian.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre (UKMTO) reported that the Al Rekayyat was hit near Limah, Oman, while heading south out of the strait toward the Gulf of Oman. Its crew issued a Mayday: "we're being hit by a drone top of port side near engine room" The Guardian. Reuters, citing Axios, reported that a Saudi-flagged crude tanker was also damaged near Hormuz, alongside the Qatari LNG vessel, which was described as at risk of exploding Reuters. It marks the first time a Qatari-flagged ship has been struck since the US-Iran war began on February 28 The Guardian.

The attacks land squarely on Qatar, which has served as the principal mediator between Washington and Tehran throughout the conflict. Reuters reported the strikes occurred as huge crowds in Iran marched to mourn the country's slain ayatollah, and that Iran said no talks would resume unless Trump halted operations first Reuters.

The dispute traces to a narrower question: who controls the routing and cost of transit through Hormuz. Oman had proposed a new shipping corridor hugging its own coastline, an arrangement Iran opposed The Guardian. Iran instead wants to charge vessels for use of the waterway itself. At a Tehran briefing, foreign ministry officials insisted Iran has a right to impose fees on all ships transiting the strait, and an Iranian official told the Guardian the charges would cover "security and safe passage," drawing a comparison to deep-sea pilotage fees in the English Channel The Guardian.

Iran rejected an Omani proposal to establish a new transit authority modeled on the Malacca and Singapore Straits, where levies fund specific navigational services rather than security provision. Tehran also firmly rejected French and British proposals to de-mine and secure the southern route along the Omani shore The Guardian. Iran has instead pointed to the terms of a US-Iran memorandum of understanding, under which Tehran claims it — in consultation with Oman — is entitled to manage the strait's reopening, with commercial traffic meant to return to pre-war levels within 30 days. Iran has blamed the US for the tanker strikes, arguing that Washington's efforts to open alternative routes through Hormuz breach that same memorandum The Guardian.

That memorandum had briefly appeared to hold. Reuters reported on June 27 that Iran and the US agreed to halt attacks and renew talks, according to a US official — hours after the US military carried out fresh strikes against Iran following an earlier tanker hit in Hormuz Reuters. The July 7 strikes suggest that truce has not translated into safe transit.

Qatar's public position has hardened steadily since the war began. In March, Qatar's prime minister and foreign minister called Iranian attacks a "dangerous escalation" and an "unacceptable violation threatening regional stability," and Doha separately raised Iran's maritime threats at an International Maritime Organization meeting in London MOFA. In late April, Qatar rejected any closure of the strait outright, warning of global repercussions for energy security, food security, and supply chains, while continuing to back mediation MOFA. By May, Qatar's foreign ministry confirmed more than ten fully loaded tankers remained stranded inside the strait, calling the outcome of ongoing communications "unpredictable" MOFA. Qatar also condemned an Iranian strike on a UAE ADNOC tanker in early May MOFA.

Shipping data illustrate how cautious operators have become navigating the corridor. Fortune reported that of 19 vessels crossing the strait on a recent Saturday, only one openly signaled its inbound transit along the Omani coast — a sign that much of the traffic still moving through Hormuz is doing so with minimal AIS visibility, likely to avoid drawing targeting attention Fortune.

The underlying tension is structural rather than incidental. Iran's push to monetize transit through Hormuz collides directly with the principle, long defended by Gulf states and Western navies, that the strait constitutes an international waterway under UNCLOS transit passage provisions, not a toll corridor subject to unilateral Iranian fee-setting. Oman's proposed coastal corridor was, in effect, an attempt to route traffic around that dispute entirely, which is precisely why Tehran opposed it.

Qatar's position is unusually exposed. It has spent the war brokering between Washington and Tehran while simultaneously watching its own LNG exports — a significant share of global supply — transit the same waters now being contested. A prolonged dispute over the memorandum's implementation, layered onto disagreement over routing and fees, leaves the 30-day normalization window Iran has cited looking difficult to meet.