DUBAI, June 28 -- A maritime body overseen by the US Navy said Saturday that a route through the Strait of Hormuz near Oman's shores is expanding to allow for both inbound and outbound traffic. The announcement by the Joint Maritime Information Center serves as another warning to Iran that the US is pushing to reopen the strait. Iran has insisted ships must obey its orders and is warning it will start charging fees for transit through the strait, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas once passed. The US and Gulf Arab states have rejected Iran's demands. The strait is considered around the world as an international waterway, despite being the territorial waters of Iran and Oman. Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday, likely Tehran's response to overnight airstrikes by the United States. The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the US reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict. The US had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the uneasy ceasefire in the war. Naval authorities increased the threat level to shipping in the area after the attack on the ship on Saturday. The UK Maritime Trade Operations centre said a tanker sustained damage to its bridge after being struck by an unidentified projectile within Hormuz. The ship's crew are safe and there was no environmental damage, it added. In a separate update, the Joint Maritime Information Center, which liaises between navies and merchant shipping, raised its threat level for ships in the region to substantial as a result of recent attacks. Saturday's strike is the second attack on a merchant ship this week and creates a renewed bout of risk to a waterway that had been gradually reopening after the US and Iran struck an interim peace deal earlier in the month. Prior to the incident, vessels had continued to transit Hormuz using both the Iranian side and an Omani route that's recommended by western navies, including earlier on Saturday morning. It was too early to say whether the tanker attack had an impact on subsequent crossings, but millions of barrels a day of oil was crossing Hormuz even before the US and Iran signed the interim deal. On Thursday, a hit on a container ship called Ever Lovely caused the US to strike Iran in retaliation for what it described as unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping. Tehran in turn said it then attacked US assets in the region. In its update on Saturday, the JMIC said that the Omani route had been expanded to allow ships to transit in both directions simultaneously. It also published a warning area for potential mines that covers much of the usual Hormuz transit route. The International Maritime Organization warned on Friday that around 80 mines could have been laid in Hormuz....