Two ADNOC ships hit in Strait of Hormuz, Emirates accuse Iran

The Strait of Hormuz, which this morning’s edition had covered from the angle of commercial transits, is once again the scene of an attack. During the night between Thursday and Friday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates announced that two ships linked to ADNOC, Abu Dhabi’s state oil company, were attacked while crossing the strait. ADNOC itself confirmed that two of its vessels were hit on Thursday evening and that the situation has been brought back under control. No injuries have been reported (Al Jazeera).

The most sober confirmation of the dynamic comes from the British center UKMTO, which monitors merchant traffic in the area: two ships sustained minor damage after being attacked by drones. The Emirates attribute the action to Iran and describe it, in the ministry’s statement, as one of the “acts of piracy” carried out using the strait as a tool of economic coercion (translated from English). Tehran has not immediately commented on the accusations.

Reactions from the Gulf

Over the course of August 14, official statements of condemnation arrived from Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain (Fox News). The most precise reference is Qatar’s appeal to United Nations Security Council resolution 2817, adopted in March 2026, which orders Iran to cease attacks against Gulf states and maritime routes. This is a detail that matters more than expressions of solidarity: it means the regional reaction is being anchored to a binding Security Council act, not merely to Abu Dhabi’s bilateral protest.

This is not the first episode involving the Emirati company. An attack on an ADNOC tanker had already been reported by the Emirates on Saturday, August 8. Two cases six days apart, against ships traceable to the same state shipowner, indicate that the target is not generic: these are the vessels of a Gulf country, in a stretch of water where ordinary traffic is limited and every passage is visible.

No injuries have been reported; UKMTO speaks of minor damage to the two vessels.

The immediate effect on prices

The measurable consequence was seen in crude oil. On Thursday, August 13, the S&P 500 index had closed at a historic high, surpassing the 7,800 mark for the first time, and the rise had been attributed to the cooling of July’s inflation and the simultaneous drop in oil prices. By the end of the week, oil prices rose again precisely after the attack on the two ships linked to the Emirates, while American markets moved in mixed order ahead of retail sales data (BNN Bloomberg, TheStreet). The sequence is the same one observed for months: risk over the strait feeds through into prices before reaching any diplomatic table.

The naval rotation of the United States

On the military front, the United States is sending the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, deployed for an extended period due to the war against Iran. The ship has been at sea for more than 250 days and has not made a port call in 200; according to the Wall Street Journal’s reconstruction, picked up by Just Security, concerns are growing over crew morale and living conditions on board. On this point the news currently comes from a single source (the Wall Street Journal investigation); no independent confirmation is available.

Two non-secondary elements remain outside the verifiable picture: the technical origin of the drones used and Tehran’s official position, which as of this edition’s closing has not been expressed. According to the company, the two ADNOC ships have been brought back under control.