UKMTO: Explosions Hit Tankers in Strait of Hormuz

By Staff, Agencies

A small boat attached two explosive devices to a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, setting off blasts that started a fire in the engine room and temporarily disabled the vessel, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations [UKMTO].

In an updated bulletin, the agency said the boat came alongside the tanker’s port side and fixed the devices above the waterline, 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman.

The crew are safe and accounted for, and there was no environmental impact, UKMTO said. The fire has been put out, and the tanker is continuing to its next port.

Separately, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards [IRG] Navy announced on Thursday that three violating oil tankers exploded and caught fire within 24 hours after entering an unauthorized southern route through the strait. The vessels were left on the southern shores of the waterway.

According to the statement, the ships ignored Iranian naval warnings and switched off their radar and navigation systems before entering a mined passage. The IRG Navy said the route remains mined and that shipowners and crews bear responsibility for transiting it. 

They “should not pay attention to CENTCOM’s delusions on social media,” it added.

The IRG Navy also said its electronic warfare unit captured a US MQM-170 reconnaissance and decoy drone in the western Strait of Hormuz and brought it down intact. 

The aircraft had been tasked with detecting Iranian air defense systems along the Gulf coastline and the strait, the navy said.

On the same day, it intercepted and destroyed an advanced “MQ-1” drone belonging to US forces east of the strait.

Iranian forces have repeatedly accused US Central Command [CENTCOM] of steering commercial vessels toward the southern corridor near the Omani coast despite Iranian warnings. 

Shipping through the strait has been restricted since the US war on Iran began on February 28. Tehran maintains that vessels must coordinate their passage with Iranian authorities, while Washington has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.