Iran says it struck navigation and communications equipment on Didamar Island, an Omani outcrop in the Strait of Hormuz. The claim comes as U.S. Central Command maintains a blockade of Iranian ports and works to protect commercial vessels from attacks along the strait’s southern route.
Three sources told Reuters on Wednesday that navigation systems and communications equipment on Didamar, also known as Little Quoin Island, had been attacked. The incident has raised concerns about the safety of infrastructure that helps keep oil shipments moving through the Gulf.
Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy carried out the strike. It alleged the island’s systems were being used to guide ships through the strait without Tehran’s approval. Iranian state television said personnel and equipment there were “helping the flow of oil smuggling by the enemy.”
Video published by Reuters showed smoke rising near the rocky island. The Institute for the Study of War said it assessed that the attack took place on Nov. 8, two days before Iranian state media claimed responsibility.
The institute said the scale of the damage was not clear and noted that commercial vessels continued to use the southern route after the strike. Satellite images from the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 program, dated Nov. 8, appeared to show scorch marks near radar and radio equipment, Reuters reported.
The incident comes as U.S. forces conduct missions to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
The U.S. Navy first imposed a blockade of Iranian ports in April, after Iran closed the strait in February amid rising tensions. Washington lifted the blockade in June under a temporary ceasefire agreement, then reinstated it in July.
Commercial and allied vessels have been advised to take a southern route through Omani waters, outside Tehran’s direct military control and under CENTCOM’s oversight.
Gulf oil exporters are working to restore shipments disrupted by the conflict. Regional exports rose to more than 80% of prewar levels in September and October, Reuters reported, helped by CENTCOM and higher Saudi shipments through the Red Sea. Shipping companies have also used offshore transfers between tankers near Oman and the United Arab Emirates to keep oil moving.
Didamar belongs to Oman, making the reported attack particularly sensitive. The uninhabited island lies about 10 nautical miles north of the tip of Oman’s Musandam Peninsula, close to a major commercial shipping route through the strait.
It has long served as a navigational marker for ships, with a lighthouse established there in 1914. Its reported maritime equipment includes radar on a tower about 25 meters high, as well as radio systems that help vessels pass through the narrow waterway. The island has also been linked to the Hormuz Control Centre, which coordinates maritime traffic in the area.
Arabian Maritime and Navigation Aids Services has been identified as a provider of navigational infrastructure in the region, including lights, buoys and other equipment.
The reported strike follows U.S. military action against Iranian targets elsewhere in the strait. On Nov. 2, U.S. forces hit targets on Iran’s Qeshm Island. Officials described the strikes as defensive and said they were aimed at Iranian surface-to-air missile threats. Qeshm, near the Strait of Hormuz, is home to Iranian naval facilities and military infrastructure associated with the Revolutionary Guard.
President Donald Trump acknowledged on Nov. 6 that U.S. forces were continuing limited strikes against Iranian targets. Asked about the action near Qeshm, he said: “I don’t want to talk about it. We do minor strikes. They built a little bit of an anti-aircraft device, and we knocked it out in about 15 minutes, maybe five.”
