Iran Drone Strike on Ever Lovely Fractures Hormuz Ceasefire Framework

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a Singapore-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on June 25, deploying at least four one-way attack drones at vessels transiting a corridor along the Omani coast. One drone hit the Singapore-flagged cargo ship M/V Ever Lovely, operated by Taiwan-based Evergreen Marine, as the vessel was exiting the strait along the Omani coast. No crew members were injured, and the container ship was able to continue on its travels. Two U.S. officials told Reuters that Iran had fired on the ship, while an unnamed U.S. source told the AP the vessel was struck by a drone belonging to the IRGC. Iran has not formally claimed responsibility for the attack.

The strike directly implicated the June 17 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Washington and Tehran, which established a 60-day framework for halting hostilities. The deal was meant to trigger a 60-day period in which Iran was charged with making its "best efforts" to allow commercial vessels to pass through the strait at no charge. President Donald Trump characterized the attack on Truth Social as a ceasefire violation, writing that Iran had fired at least four drones at ships transiting the strait and that one "solidly hit the upper deck" of a large cargo vessel. Hours after Trump's comments, the United States military struck targets in Iran in response to the same drone attack. U.S. Central Command announced via X that American forces struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations as well as radar sites, citing Iran's hit on the Ever Lovely on June 25 as it exited the strait along the Omani coast. CENTCOM called the attack "unwarranted aggression" that "clearly violated the ceasefire" and "undermined freedom of navigation" through the waterway ^[1][2][3].

The Ever Lovely's route was central to the legal and strategic dispute. Evergreen told FreightWaves that the attack occurred while the Ever Lovely was transiting the strait in accordance with a route organized by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations security monitor. The Ever Lovely had chosen a southern route along the Omani coast rather than corridors designated by Iran's IRGC, which, hours before the attack, had issued a directive demanding all commercial vessels coordinate directly with the Iranian navy. Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the southern Omani corridor constitutes a waterway subject to the right of transit passage, which is non-suspendable and applies to all vessels. Following the signing of the 60-day accord, two routes had opened in the strait: a northern corridor controlled by Iran and a southern corridor in Omani waters, while the usual traffic separation scheme remains closed due to potential Iranian mines. The director of tanker industry group INTERTANKO stated last week that approximately 80 mines remain in the strait and that clearance operations will take considerable time.

The attack halted a nascent United Nations evacuation effort. IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez had launched the agency's Strait of Hormuz Evacuation Framework on June 23, a voluntary scheme developed in cooperation with Oman, the United States, and coastal states to facilitate the orderly departure of hundreds of vessels and approximately 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Persian Gulf, where traffic has been disrupted since Iran effectively closed the strait following U.S. and Israeli strikes in late February. Dominguez stated the Ever Lovely was not transiting under the IMO evacuation plan, but the U.N. organization decided to pause the scheme to reconfirm safety guarantees to ships. Dominguez announced the evacuation of sailors would be temporarily halted "until further clarity is obtained" on the attack.

The incident landed against a charged diplomatic backdrop. The day of the attack, the U.S.-GCC ministerial meeting convened in Manama, co-chaired by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, with foreign ministers from GCC member states in attendance. The ministers emphasized that free, unconditional, and unrestricted navigation, including the right of transit passage as guaranteed under international law, remains essential to regional and global security, and rejected any tolls, fees, or attempts to assert control over the strait. Rubio told the GCC meeting in Bahrain that international waterways do not belong to any nation state, and warned that accepting fees on an international waterway "will spread throughout the world like a contagion." The State Department joint statement tied any future trade and investment with Iran to strict compliance conditions, including adherence to the MOU and cessation of destabilizing behavior ^[4].

Tehran answered on multiple fronts. Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned the U.S.-GCC communique as "interventionist, irresponsible and provocative," accusing Washington and its Gulf allies of using diplomacy to impose pressure on Tehran and saying the joint statement distorted regional realities. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X that safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz "cannot be guaranteed" under what he termed ambiguous arrangements, parallel routes, or decision-making that excludes Iran's role as a coastal state [POLITICO]^[5]. The 14-point MOU states that Iran "will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz," in consultation with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with applicable international law. That language has allowed competing interpretations: Washington reads it as an obligation to allow free transit, while Tehran reads it as preserving its administrative authority over the waterway.

The divergence has direct operational consequences. While 15 ships left the Gulf using Iran's route on Wednesday, 26 transited via waters near Oman, according to data from shipping intelligence firm Windward, cited by Reuters. The IMO Secretary-General said the evacuation of sailors would be temporarily halted pending clarity on the attack. Nearly 20 percent of the world's oil supply passed through the strait in peacetime, along with significant quantities of fertilizer and natural gas. Following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February, Tehran moved to shut down traffic through the waterway. The dispute over route authority, transit fees, and IRGC coordination requirements now sits at the center of broader negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and sanctions relief, with each drone strike recalibrating the leverage each side brings to those talks ^[1][4].