Two tankers ‘under attack’ in Gulf of Oman
Iran has “categorically” rejected US claims that it was behind attacks that damaged two oil tankers near the Persian Gulf.
Two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, have reportedly been attacked, the US Navy says, with one adrift and on fire amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The US Navy says it is assisting the tankers in the Gulf of Oman.
Japan’s Trade Ministry said the two vessels had “Japan-related cargo” as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was wrapping up a high-stakes visit in Tehran that sought to ease tensions between Iran and the US.
The US Fifth Fleet says its vessels in the Middle East received distress calls from two tankers reportedly under attack.
“We are aware of the reported attack on tankers in the Gulf of Oman,” said a statement from the Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
“US naval forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6.12am local time and a second one at 7am,” the statement said.
“US Navy ships are in the area and are rendering assistance.”
Iran’s navy rescued 44 crew members from the two oil tankers which caught fire after what was reported as an “accident”, official news agency IRNA reported.
“Forty-four sailors from the two foreign oil tankers which had an accident this morning in the Sea of Oman were saved from the water by the (navy) rescue unit of Hormozgan province and transferred to the port of Bandar-e-Jask,” IRNA quoted an “informed source” as saying.
The latest incident comes after the US alleged that Iran used mines to attack four oil tankers off the nearby Emirati port of Fujairah last month.
Iran has denied being involved, but it comes as Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen also have launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.
Cmdr. Joshua Frey, a Fifth Fleet spokesman, said the US Navy was assisting the two vessels. He did not say how the ships were attacked or who was suspected of being behind the assault.
Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence firm, preliminarily identified one of the vessels involved as the MT Front Altair, a Marshall Islands-flagged crude oil tanker.
The vessel was “on fire and adrift,” Dryad added.
It did not offer a cause for the incident or mention the second ship.
The firm that operates the Front Altair told The Associated Press that an explosion was the cause of the fire onboard. International Tanker Management declined to comment further saying they are still investigating what caused the explosion. Its crew of 23 is safe after being evacuated by the nearby Hyundai Dubai vessel, it said.
The second vessel was identified as the Kokuka Courageous. BSM Ship Management said it sustained hull damage and 21 sailors had been evacuated, with one suffering minor injuries.
Benchmark Brent crude spiked at one point by as much 4 per cent in trading following the reported attack, to over $62 a barrel, highlighting how crucial the area remains to global energy supplies.
A third of all oil traded by sea passes through the strait, which is the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.
On Wednesday, after talks with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Abe warned that any “accidental conflict” that could be sparked amid the heightened US-Iran tensions must be avoided.
His message came just hours after Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi airport, striking its arrivals hall before dawn and wounding 26 people Wednesday.
Tensions have escalated in the Middle East as Iran appears poised to break the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, an accord that the Trump administration pulled out of last year.
Iran’s nuclear deal, reached in 2015 by China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S., saw Tehran agree to limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of crippling sanctions. Western powers feared Iran’s atomic program could allow it to build nuclear weapons, although Iran long has insisted its program was for peaceful purposes.
