On June 25, 2026 (Day 119 of the Iran-Israel-US war, Operation Epic Fury / Thursday), the deal faced its first armed challenge at sea as Iran struck a commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz — a sharp escalation over who controls the waterway’s rules, though both sides kept negotiating. THE STRIKE: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked a Singapore-flagged cargo vessel with a drone off the coast of Dahit, Oman, damaging the ship’s bridge on its starboard side; no casualties or environmental impact were reported and the vessel continued on its way, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations centre, with two senior US officials confirming to the Wall Street Journal and CBS that Iran fired — the first attack on a vessel since the memorandum of understanding was signed June 17 (CBS, Haaretz/WSJ, The Hill). THE ROUTE WAR: the strike came hours after Iran threatened ships to stop using the US-backed route. Iran’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority declared that “any passage through routes outside the framework designated by PGSA will not be covered by safe passage guarantees and will not be entitled to insurance coverage,” and the IRGC insisted the only authorized route is the northern one hugging Iran’s coast, used with Tehran’s permission: “vessel traffic outside these routes is extremely dangerous and prohibited … violators will be dealt with.” The US-favored route hugs the Omani coastline to the south, away from Iranian waters — and maritime intelligence firm Lloyd’s List said many ships had begun using the Omani route in recent days. THE FALLOUT: the UN’s International Maritime Organization paused its days-old plan to evacuate more than 11,000 stranded seafarers, with Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez saying the halt was needed “to reconfirm that the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place” (the struck ship was not on the evacuation list); MarineTraffic data showed three tankers on the southern Omani route turning back and three others diverting north toward Iran’s designated lane. THE US RESPONSE: President Trump insisted the strait remained open, telling a Rose Garden dinner that Iran “want[s] to make a deal with us very badly, and we probably will,” claiming 19 million barrels moved Wednesday (“the most in the history of the strait”) with “oil prices dropping like a rock”; a US official said “Iran cannot subvert the free flow of traffic.” Secretary of State Rubio, touring the Gulf, met the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Bahrain to reassure allies — “there is no part in this deal … that in any way undermines the security … of any of our partners in the Gulf” — having warned earlier, before the strike, “if that stops, then we’re going to have a problem.” Oman’s foreign minister Badr Al Busaidi said after the meeting that “future arrangements concerning the Strait of Hormuz will not involve imposing any transit fees,” backing the MoU and freedom of navigation. There were normalization signals too: Saudi Aramco resumed loading oil at its Ras Tanura terminal for the first time in nearly four months, with two supertankers loading and a third waiting. LEBANON: the front that anchors the broader deal stayed hot — Lebanon said five people had been killed by Israeli strikes over two days, the IDF said it fired at six Hezbollah operatives, the UN said the ceasefire “continued to largely hold” despite violations, and an Iranian source close to the negotiating team told state media an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon is a “red line” for a final deal — a condition Israel has rejected. Israeli and Lebanese delegations are set to resume US-brokered talks in Washington on Friday. Net assessment: Day 119 is the deal’s first shooting incident since signing — a calibrated, single-ship strike Iran used to enforce its route-and-permission claim as leverage, not a return to war — but it paused the evacuation, turned the Hormuz reopening into a contested route war, and sharpened the question of whether the strait normalizes on Washington’s terms or Tehran’s heading into Friday’s talks.