Iranian Hard-liners Attack 3 Ships, Derailing US Peace Deal
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 13
Iranian Hard-liners Attack 3 Ships, Derailing US Peace Deal
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 13
Summary
Three commercial ships came under Iranian fire in the Strait of Hormuz, with a Qatari LNG tanker set ablaze and two other vessels damaged, blowing up a peace agreement President Masoud Pezeshkian had just negotiated with Washington.
Five Iranian officials and two Revolutionary Guards members said a fringe hard-line faction acted without authorization, leaving even Guards chief Gen. Ahmad Vahidi and the Supreme National Security Council unaware in advance.
Pezeshkian, enraged by the strike and the global backlash, confronted Vahidi and called the attack reckless as Iran found itself under siege in world opinion.
The episode exposed a power vacuum at the top: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen or heard since taking office in March, and even the authenticity of statements issued in his name has been questioned.
That breakdown let clandestine hard-liners sabotage a broader pragmatic push to end hostilities with the United States and ease Iran's battered economy.
If Iran's president didn't order the explosive Hormuz strike, who is truly controlling the nation's weapons?
With fragmented factions attacking tankers, is any diplomatic peace deal with Tehran actually enforceable or just a dangerous illusion?
Could the mysterious absence of Iran's new Supreme Leader be masking a silent military takeover by rogue hardliners?
The 2026 Strait of Hormuz Crisis: Collapse of the US-Iran Ceasefire, Global Economic Shock, and the Risk of Regional War
Overview
The report traces the September 2026 Gulf crisis to the collapse of the Islamabad MoU, a fragile ceasefire signed in June after US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Ambiguous terms over control of the Strait of Hormuz quickly led to renewed violence, with Iran asserting sovereignty through drone attacks and the US responding militarily. This escalation devastated global shipping and energy markets, as Iran’s IRGC profited from black-market channels and imposed selective blockades, forcing shipowners to pay for safe passage. The conflict spread regionally, with Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, and triggered severe economic, humanitarian, and geopolitical fallout worldwide.