Iran says US attacked two fishing boats off Qeshm Island, leaving two fishermen missing
Iranian state media, citing a Hormozgan province official, said two fishing boats came under US attack near Qeshm Island on Saturday morning, with two crew members missing and one wounded; there was no immediate US confirmation.
Iranian state media reported on Saturday that the United States attacked two fishing boats in waters off Qeshm Island in southern Iran, leaving two fishermen missing and one wounded. The claim, carried by the state broadcaster IRIB and reported by Reuters, has not been confirmed by Washington, and no immediate American statement was available.
According to Hormozgan Province Deputy Governor Ahmad Nafisi, cited by the provincial governor's public relations office, the incident took place at about 11:30am local time on Saturday, around 18 nautical miles from Messen village in Qeshm County. Each of the two boats had two people on board, Nafisi said.
Two crew members were brought to Qeshm, one of them injured and taken to hospital for treatment, according to Iran's official IRNA news agency. The other two remain missing, and search and rescue operations in the area are under way. Nafisi said the authorities were following up and would release further details once verified reports were received.
The location matters. Qeshm Island sits in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between Iran and Oman through which a large proportion of the world's seaborne oil is shipped. The strait has been the focus of repeated attacks on tankers and energy infrastructure since the war between the United States, Israel and Iran erupted in late February, and civilian shipping there now operates under constant risk.
Saturday's report is the first account of fishing boats being targeted in the current round of tensions, and it comes at a delicate moment for diplomacy. Qatari mediators spent Friday in Tehran in a renewed effort to broker a deal, and a reported draft framework under discussion would see Iran transfer uranium abroad and reopen the strait within seven days in exchange for relief from the American blockade of Iranian ports.
The two tracks — negotiation and confrontation — have been running in parallel for months. An interim agreement reached in June failed to secure a lasting ceasefire or restore normal shipping through the strait, and the sides remain divided over whether nuclear talks or sanctions relief should come first. Each new incident at sea makes the diplomatic track harder to sustain.
For the fishing communities of Hormozgan province, the incident is also a local tragedy regardless of its wider significance. Fishing is a mainstay of livelihoods around Qeshm, and the waters near the island are worked daily by small boats whose crews have no protection from military confrontations. The fate of the two missing men will be the immediate concern for their families and for the rescue teams still searching.
What happens next will depend first on the search, and then on the official responses. Tehran has not yet issued a formal statement beyond the provincial account, and Washington has not commented. If the United States confirms an operation, or disputes the account, that response will shape how the incident is read across the region.
There is also the question of precedent. Attacks on merchant tankers have already pushed insurance costs up and forced rerouting; an attack on small civilian fishing boats, if confirmed, would raise new questions about the safety of ordinary maritime activity in the strait and about the rules governing the use of force in one of the world's busiest waterways.
For now, the facts remain limited to the Iranian provincial account: two boats, four crew, two missing, one wounded, and a search still under way off Qeshm. Until further verified information emerges, the incident stands as an unverified but serious claim in a conflict where the sea has repeatedly become the front line.
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