{"id":91093,"date":"2026-04-30T13:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/91093\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T13:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:40:30","slug":"how-irans-mosquito-fleet-is-skirting-trumps-strait-of-hormuz-blockade-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/91093\/","title":{"rendered":"How Iran\u2019s mosquito fleet is skirting Trump\u2019s Strait of Hormuz blockade"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Skirting around the vast oil tankers anchored patiently in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, Iran<\/a>\u2019s \u201cmosquito fleet\u201d is locking down the critical waterway<\/a> that is stuck under a double blockade. <\/a><\/p>\n

Last Wednesday, small boats belonging to the navy of Iran\u2019s powerful Revolutionary Guard<\/a> attacked three large container ships, two of which were forced to head to Iranian ports for allegedly trying to pass through the Strait without Tehran<\/a>\u2019s permission. <\/p>\n

Donald Trump said Iran\u2019s navy is \u201clying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated\u201d, but that \u201cwhat we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, \u2018fast attack ships,\u2019 because we did not consider them much of a threat\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe Epaminondas ship being seized by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps last Friday (Reuters)<\/p>\n

The swarm of speedboats, seen as Tehran\u2019s second navy, crossed the narrowest part of the Strait. It is now a serious concern for vessels seeking transit through the waterway, especially as these vessels are difficult to track and often carry weapons onboard.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the New York Post, former Pentagon official and Atlantic Council fellow Alex Plitsas, said: \u201cThey call them \u2018mosquito fleets\u2019 because they\u2019re small and annoying \u2013 and they hit. But they\u2019re enough to bite and be obnoxious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boats allow Tehran to shut down the Strait in a more flexible and less costly way than using its larger vessels, including frigates and submarines, many of which were damaged in US-Israeli bombardment earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps uses a \u2018mosquito fleet\u2019 instead of large warships,\u201d Saeid Golkar, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, told Spanish outlet El Pais. <\/p>\n

The vessels operate \u201cin swarms, approaching at high speed from different directions. In a narrow area like the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, this puts significant pressure on US naval forces\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FootageFootage showing the seizure of the container ships MSC Francesca and Epaminondas in the Strait of Hormuz (IRIB)<\/p>\n

The boards are operating a \u201cform of maritime guerrilla warfare focused on harassment, disruption and increasing the cost of US operations, rather than trying to win a traditional battle\u201d, Mr Golkar added.<\/p>\n

It only takes several small boats to seize an oil tanker, therefore driving up the fears of other tankers, which choose instead to remain anchored, and as a result, push up oil prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve realised they don\u2019t have to actually mine the straits. A couple of drones and a couple of small boats \u2026 have been able to choke the world\u2019s largest strategic waterway at risk without actually permanently closing it \u2013 and wreaking havoc on the markets,\u201d Mr Plitsas added. <\/p>\n

Iranian political scientist Vali Nasr, a former advisor to the Barack Obama administration, told El Pais that \u201ccheap weaponry\u201d is sufficient to deter vessels venturing into the Strait.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Strait of Hormuz has not been freely open for traffic for two months (Getty)<\/p>\n

Control over the waterway has been a crucial element of Iran\u2019s war with the US, which began with US-Israeli attacks on 28 February. <\/p>\n

Without the means to match the sheer output of drones and missiles by the US and Israeli militaries, Tehran has been waging war on different fronts.<\/p>\n

In normal times, 20 per cent of the world\u2019s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran\u2019s blockade of the waterway, and a subsequent blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman by the US military, have seen energy prices skyrocket.<\/p>\n

Oil prices skyrocketed to more than $125 a barrel on Thursday amid ongoing fears that the prolonged crisis in the Strait of Hormuz could damage the global economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12474,102,101,12473],"class_list":{"0":"post-91093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-strait-of-hormuz","8":"tag-bestof","9":"tag-hormuz","10":"tag-strait-of-hormuz","11":"tag-topix"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116493944506757796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}