Sky News was interrupted for a breaking bulletin as anchor Samantha Washington delivered the latest on the Iran war – and it’s a devastating blow to both US president Donald Trump and UK prime minister Keir Starmer. The war is now in its 50th day, despite numerous claims from Trump in recent weeks that it had been “won” by the US.
Washington told viewers: “Some breaking news to update you with. The UK Maritime Trade Operations says that it has received reports of an incident 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman. The captain of a tanker has reported being approached by two IRGC gun boats. The IRGC gun boats then fired upon said tanker. Tanker and crew are reported safe.
“So that appears to be a development on the last bit of breaking news that I brought you about 10 minutes ago to say that vessels trying to cross the Strait have reported gunfire. So a little bit more detail emerging there.”
Reuters called the very brief reopening of the waterway the “first major movement” of ships in the Strait since the start of the war.
Trump is set to address the media at 2pm UK time “on an unrelated matter”, after previously claiming Tehran said it would “never close” the Strait again.
Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in a new social media post that the country’s “valiant navy is also ready to inflict new bitter defeats on its enemies”.
US officials, however, claim more than 150 Iranian vessels have been destroyed, including all of its submarines.
