Tankers Hit In Strait Of Hormuz As Millions Mourn Iran’s Khamenei

July 7 (Reuters) – Two tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz and millions of Iranians vowed revenge at a week-long funeral for their slain leader, while Iran said there would be no peace talks unless Donald Trump ends his repeated threats to restart the war.

The Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker Al Rekayyat reported that it was hit during the night and its engine room was set on fire. Maritime security sources said a Saudi crude oil tanker was also damaged.

“Mayday mayday mayday. This is the Al Rekayyat ship of the LNG carrier Al Rekayyat. We are being hit by the drone on the port side of the engine room,” the Rekayyat’s captain said in a recorded radio conversation reviewed by Reuters. “Situation: engine room filled with fire and smoke. No further damage detected.”

The official said that the crew was safe but the ship was disabled without engines or rudders, and called for help from all ships in the region.

No one claimed responsibility for the attacks. Axios news site reported that Iran opened fire on two ships. Neither Washington nor Tehran commented directly on the reports.

The incidents, the first reported attacks in the strait since mourning for Iran’s supreme leader began last week, were a reminder that Gulf shipping remained unresolved for more than four months after the United States and Israel launched a war they said would prevent Iran from threatening its neighbors.

Iran’s religious rulers have wielded newfound control over the world’s most important energy shipping route, aiming to establish a permanent system to collect fees in what would represent a major shift in the balance of power in a region where Washington has acted as guarantor of security for generations.

The Iranian leadership demonstrated its firm grip on the country during a week of mourning for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed along with his daughter, grandson, son-in-law and daughter-in-law on the first day of the war.

The coffins of the slain leader and his family were driven into the streets of the seminary town of Qom on Tuesday; Here, hundreds of thousands of people carried flags and banners comparing Khamenei to the martyrs whose deaths formed the basis of the Shiite sect.

They chanted and vowed to avenge Khamenei. Some had signs and banners that read “KILL TRUMP.”

A similar large funeral procession was held on the streets of Tehran on Monday, following more solemn prayer events that began last Friday and attracted the attention of Iranian dignitaries and dignitaries from abroad. Officials say the leader’s body will be taken to Shiite holy cities in neighboring Iraq, then brought to Iran and buried in a medieval mausoleum.

The war was paused under an interim peace deal reached last month that aimed to provide a 60-day window for negotiations on a permanent deal. A round of indirect talks in Qatar last week ended with no signs of progress towards a lasting peace.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to continue bombing, most recently on Monday when he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We’re either going to make a deal or we’re going to finish the job… We can destroy their bridges in an hour, we can cut off their energy supplies.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said that according to the terms of the temporary ceasefire agreement, “negotiations on the final agreement will not begin if the threats continue.”

“Respect your signature,” he wrote over the X.

Oil prices, which have returned to pre-war levels since last month’s interim agreement allowing ships to pass through the strait, rose nearly 1% on Tuesday following events in the waterway.

In launching the war four months ago, Trump said his goals were to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, end its ability to threaten its neighbors and create conditions for Iranians to overthrow their leaders.

None of those goals have been met, but Washington says a permanent deal would halt a program that says Iran could build a nuclear weapon, which Iran says it never intended to do.

Despite five days of mourning, there is still no public trace of Khamenei’s son and successor Mojtaba, who is believed to be disfigured due to the injuries he received in the same attack and has not been shown in any footage since the start of the war. The slain leader’s other three sons prayed at the coffin on Sunday.

Iranian leaders have cited mass burials following US-Israeli attacks as evidence of national unity; But it is difficult to assess how deep this loyalty runs in a country where media and communications are tightly controlled.

Just weeks before the start of the war, Iranian authorities killed thousands of demonstrators to suppress some of the largest anti-government protests in the country’s history, but there has been no sign of organized opposition in Iran since the war began.

(Reporting by a Reuters team and Reuters offices in Tehran. Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Ros Russell)