IRGC tightens grip on Strait of Hormuz as Oman offers alternate route

Iran's Revolutionary Guard fires on a Singaporean tanker, while Oman opens a new shipping corridor without coordinating with Tehran.

IRGC tightens grip on Strait of Hormuz as Oman offers alternate route — On Thursday, IRGC elements attacked a Singapore-flagged commercial cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, the latest escalation in Iran's campaign to assert control over the waterway. The Singaporean tanker 'Prabhu Parvati', which attempted to use the Omani corridor, was fired upon. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has effectively taken control of shipping in the Persian Gulf, imposing manual control over vessel movements.[^1] Oman announced an interim shipping route for commercial vessels through the strategic waterway, bypassing the IRGC's de facto authority. According to an anonymous Iranian source cited by The New York Times, Tehran is furious at Oman for allowing naval vessels through an alternate Hormuz route without coordinating with the IRGC.[^2] The move challenges Iran's self-appointed role as gatekeeper of the strait, through which about 20% of global oil passes. Prof. Uzi Rabi claims that Iran has 60 days to extract from the Americans what it has not yet achieved, suggesting a narrow window for diplomacy before the situation hardens.[^3] Meanwhile, the US will remove 20 refueling aircraft from Ben Gurion Airport by the beginning of next week, a decision linked to preventing flight cancellations that would otherwise affect 2.4 million passengers.[^4] The juxtaposition of Iranian aggression in the Gulf and US logistical adjustments in Israel underscores the region's volatile equilibrium. Can Oman's independent corridor hold without US naval backing, or will the IRGC escalate further to reassert its monopoly over Hormuz? Coalition cracks and legal battles mark a volatile political day — On Friday afternoon, women from the 'Mothers on the Front' movement blocked the main entrance bridge to Bnei Brak, demanding Haredi conscription. Movement founder Ayelet Hashahar Seidoff declared, 'We did not send our children to die for a country of shirkers.'[^1] The protest highlights deepening societal rifts over military service, an issue that has also surfaced in coalition politics. Earlier in the day, Yesh Atid filed a petition with the Central Elections Committee against th