On July 7, 2026, the Strait of Hormuz once again became the storm center of global financial markets. According to a report by the U.S. news website Axios, citing two U.S. officials, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired at least two missiles at merchant ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Two merchant ships were hit and suffered severe damage. The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) later reported that a southbound tanker was hit on its port side by an unknown object at about 8 nautical miles east of Omani Lima and caught fire. Bloomberg further confirmed that the vessels under attack included the Al Rekayyat, an LNG carrier operated by Qatar’s National Shipping Company Nakilat— the first Qatari LNG carrier to be attacked since the U.S.-Iran conflict broke out at the end of February.