CENTCOM: Iran Killed Over 20 Mariners

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - US Central Command said on Monday that Iran has deliberately attacked civilian mariners at sea, killing more than 20 in recent months, and has also intentionally targeted civilian infrastructure, neighborhoods and other facilities in neighboring Gulf countries. CENTCOM posted the statement on social media to rebut what it called a “false” claim by Iran’s foreign minister that Tehran has not attacked civilians in neighboring countries.

“Iran’s indiscriminate aggression is clearly evident and inexcusable,” CENTCOM said. The post did not list incidents, name vessels or explain how it counted the deaths.

🚫 CLAIM: Iran’s foreign minister recently claimed publicly that Iran has not attacked civilians in neighboring countries. This is FALSE. ✅ FACT: Iran has not only intentionally attacked civilian infrastructure, neighborhoods, and other facilities in neighboring Gulf countries, but it has also deliberately attacked civilian mariners at sea — killing more than 20 in recent months. Iran’s indiscriminate aggression is clearly evident and inexcusable.

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 2, 2026

Araghchi has repeated the denial through the war. In March he told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Iran had attacked no residential or civilian target and offered to form a joint committee with Gulf neighbors to examine the sites hit. An Arabic-language report said he told reporters on Sunday that Iran targets US bases and assets on Arab territory rather than the countries themselves, and that a missile can occasionally hit the wrong target. Kurdistan 24 could not confirm that Sunday remark in a second source.

The International Maritime Organization has not published a figure that matches CENTCOM’s. Its last public tally, reported by AFP on August 25, counted at least 20 seafarers or port workers killed, 35 wounded and one missing in 68 incidents in and around the Strait of Hormuz over six months of war. It did not assign responsibility, and the UK Maritime Trade Operations center classified 47 of those incidents as attacks. USNI News noted that the IMO count covered attacks by both Iranian and US forces. In May the IMO said Iran’s attacks on vessels in the Gulf or the Strait had killed at least 10 seafarers, Al Jazeera reported. Iran’s merchant mariners union, for its part, told Al Jazeera that at least 44 Iranian seafarers, fishermen and dock workers were killed between February 28 and April 1 in US and Israeli attacks on its ports and ships, a claim Kurdistan 24 has not verified.

Gulf governments have made their own accusations. Gulf states have called on Iran to stop attacks that damaged energy facilities and residential areas, Reuters reported. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said the scale of Iranian missile and drone fire contradicts Tehran’s claim that it targets only US bases. Saudi Arabia condemned in May what it called an attack on civilians and economic facilities in the UAE, along with a tanker belonging to an Emirati company. In March, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized on state television for strikes that hit Gulf countries, then retracted the remarks hours later after criticism from hardliners, according to Gulf Countries Media.

Attacks on shipping continue. A tanker was hit off Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al Khafji port on Sunday, according to a UKMTO map. The sources reviewed did not name the attacker.

The exchange comes as the US weighs resuming strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, with Gulf officials saying Washington has warned them of possible action as early as November 4. Iran’s Foreign Ministry had not responded to CENTCOM’s statement at the time of writing.