Updated

Multiple commercial vessels have been struck and sunk in the Strait of Hormuz in recent days amid the wider regional conflict, including the Singapore-flagged container ship GFS Pride (all 21 crew evacuated safely) and the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged dry bulk carrier Cape Dao, with Iran's Revolutionary Guards and UK maritime authorities offering differing accounts of the incidents. A separate container ship was also struck by an unidentified projectile, according to UKMTO. The US military said it destroyed an Iranian-affiliated vessel it accused of surveilling US Navy ships in the Gulf of Oman. The disruption is rattling global supply chains: a UN official warned of a looming food crisis as a fertiliser shipment plan through Hormuz stalls, and French President Macron plans to visit Kuwait, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar from October 19-21 partly to discuss the strait's impact on energy prices.