Oil prices are higher today after the British military said a cargo ship was hit while on UN-approved route through the Strait of Hormuz.

It was on a United Nations-approved route and it’s not yet clear what happened but Iran has threatened ships hugging the Oman coastline and making noise about the lack of an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, something that was a precondition of the peace agreement signed last week.

Lebanon and Israel are continuing to negotiate that part of the agreement but progress might not be fast enough for Iran. Alternatively, they could be trying to enforce a toll or ‘fee’ system in the Strait.

In any case, the UN is pausing its plan. Some headlines:

• UN shipping agency says it’s temporarily pausing evacuation plan for stranded ships
• Ship attacked on Thursday did not transit under UN agency’s evacuation framework
• Evacuation plan will be paused until further clarity is obtained

The details of the attack are starting to trickle out and it was evidently a Singapore-flagged ship. It was hit by a ‘projectile’ earlier today and sustained bridge damage, but no casualties or environmental impact.

Reports say the ship was struck 7 nautical miles off the coast of Oman after Iran’s IRGC earlier in the day threatened vessels travelling through the strait without Tehran’s permission.

A video on social media purported to air an IRGC Navy radio broadcast warning that only vessels with Iranian permission were allowed to pass.

“Transit only with IRGC permission, on designated routes. No permission, AIS off, or off-route, and you carry the consequences,” the broadcast said, though many fake videos have been posted during the war.

WTI crude oil was last up $1.23 to $71.57.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.