The Qatari LNG carrier Al Mayeda, bound for Pakistan, has been struck by projectiles in the Gulf, and no one has claimed the attack. Bloomberg reports that Iran had cleared the voyage hours earlier. If that is right, the ship that was hit was one Tehran had agreed to let pass.

That sets it apart from the disputed incidents of recent weeks. Iran's navy said a tanker caught fire in Hormuz after hitting mines, while US Central Command says the main transit lanes are clear. Iran's Guards Navy said it stopped two tankers south of the strait for going dark. This is a strike on a Qatari carrier that Iran had itself approved.

It is also not the first hit on shipping in these waters. UKMTO, the UK maritime trade monitor, counted seven vessel strikes near Hormuz between September 28 and October 4, and reported a tanker hit off Qatar's coast on October 7 with casualties. On October 30 it reported another vessel struck by an unknown projectile south of Lavan Island.

The timing hurts Qatar most. Its negotiators spent 12 hours in Tehran on October 30, Iran is weighing a Qatari draft, and Foreign Minister Araghchi has called the US move to restart talks a "positive step". An unclaimed attack on a vessel Iran had cleared undercuts the credibility of those talks. Araghchi has also said only Iran's own plan is on the table for Hormuz, and Iran has rejected Washington's seven-day proposal.

Military planning is running alongside. Netanyahu pressed Trump on a Saturday call to resume strikes on Iran after the midterms, Trump argued for more time on diplomacy, and Axios reports the Pentagon has a three-day strike plan ready. US hardware is still flowing into Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

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