Iran Says It Struck Omani Island That Helps Guide Ships Through Hormuz’s Southern Route

Iran has claimed a strike on Didamar, a small rocky island belonging to Oman at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, according to reports on Tuesday.

Iran’s military said that personnel on the island were ‘helping the flow of oil smuggling by the enemy’. An unnamed official of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy told Iranian state media that navigational aid systems in the south of the Strait of Hormuz were destroyed. The official added that no vessels that Iran considers unauthorised passed through the route overnight.

Oman confirmed that a loud explosion was detected at the base on the island.

Didamar, also known as Little Quoin Island, is located off Oman’s Musandam Peninsula next to the southern shipping corridor. It has a lighthouse that was established in 1914. Shore radar and radio equipment on the island is reportedly used to track vessels and coordinate traffic.

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