Iranian state media cannot agree whether missiles hit Qeshm, and nobody is naming the ships

Iranian state television reported on Saturday evening that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island, inside the Strait of Hormuz, and in Jask, Sirik and Bandar Abbas on the mainland. IRNA reported two blasts in eastern Qeshm. IRIB said it was not yet clear whether the sounds came from an enemy attack or from Iranian forces firing on “violating” vessels. Tasnim, the IRGC-aligned semi-official agency, reported that two missiles had struck Qeshm — and then quoted an unnamed “informed source” saying the noise was linked to Iranian management of maritime traffic and that no projectile had hit the island. Fars, citing local sources, said the nature and locations remained unclear with no immediate reports of casualties or damage. No official Iranian clarification had been issued as of early Sunday. On Friday, Donald Trump said US forces had struck an Iranian air defence system, describing the action as “minor”; a US official called it limited in scope and not a resumption of large-scale operations.

The same opacity runs through the week’s maritime incidents. CENTCOM said on 7 November that a US aircraft fired at the stern of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman whose civilian crew “ignored repeated warnings and attempted to violate the naval blockade against Iran multiple times.” ABC News counted it as the eleventh ship disabled since the blockade began in July; CENTCOM separately says US forces have destroyed ten Iranian commercial oil tankers it alleges belonged to an IRGC shadow network. No name, flag, IMO number, cargo or crew nationality has been released for any of them. The IRGC Navy, in a statement on Sepah News carried by IRNA, said two tankers — one east of the Strait, one inside it — “that attempted to transit via an unauthorized route struck mines,” both with navigation and GPS systems switched off. Iran named neither vessel either.

Assessment: Two armed parties are now conducting a shipping war in which neither identifies the ships. That is not an accident of fog: naming a hull invites insurers, flag states and salvage firms to check the story, and both sides' accounts would then be testable. Tasnim publishing a missile strike and a denial of a missile strike within the same news cycle is the clearest signal available that Tehran’s own chain of attribution is improvised. Treat the noise on Qeshm as confirmed and the cause as open. Until a vessel name, an IMO number or a UKMTO advisory appears, every mine claim and every disabling belongs in the claims column.