US-Iran tensions: An oil tanker off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz was attacked after attempting to transit the strategic waterway through the Omani route with the support of the US Navy,
Iranian state media has claimed, saying that the vessel had ignored repeated warnings from Iranian authorities.
According to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, citing sources, the tanker was targeted after using the southern route through Oman’s waters despite Tehran’s directive that all commercial vessels coordinate their passage through the Strait of Hormuz with the Iranian military.
However, no Iranian official has publicly confirmed or denied the report.
The report came after the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a tanker travelling south near the Omani coast was hit by an “unknown projectile”, triggering a fire about eight nautical miles east of Limah, Oman.
UKMTO said there were no casualties or environmental damage and advised vessels transiting the area to exercise caution while authorities investigate the incident.
Meanwhile, Axios, citing two US officials, reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired at least two missiles at commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night. According to the report, two vessels were hit and suffered significant damage, though there were no casualties. The report added that the United States was expected to launch retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets. There has been no independent confirmation of the claims.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Gulf despite an ongoing ceasefire between the United States and Iran. Maritime tracking data from MarineTraffic showed that nearly one-third of the 108 vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz between Friday and Sunday sailed close to Oman’s coast, with 30 ships, including crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, opting for the Omani route.
The reported attack came after a one-week agreement between Washington and Tehran to halt attacks in the strait expired, raising concerns that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed less than three weeks ago could begin to unravel.
A round of indirect talks between the two sides in Doha last week ended without significant progress on the future of the strategic waterway.
Meanwhile, Iran has maintained that there will be no return to the pre-war arrangement under which ships could pass freely through the strait. Tehran has also warned vessels against using routes outside a corridor it has authorised along its coastline.
Speaking at the World Peace Forum in Beijing on Saturday, Iranian Ambassador Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said Iran and Oman were working in “collaboration and cooperation” on “new arrangements” for the waterway.
“As a country where the Hormuz is part of its territorial waters, we will definitely charge service fees,” Azli said in translated remarks, while insisting such fees would not be a “toll.”
“These new arrangements will be concerning guaranteeing the security of passage through the Straits of Hormuz, supervision of the passage of the vessels… and also guaranteeing and dealing with the environmental consequences of the massive number of ships,” he said.
