Iran reports damage to five tankers in the Strait of Hormuz — Al Jazeera
Iranian military officials said that at least five oil tankers were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz. According to their reports, five vessels and a tugboat that approached one of the tankers to extinguish a fire caught fire in several incidents. Al Jazeera reports.
Statements by the Iranian military
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that a large tanker attempting to pass south of the Strait of Hormuz stopped after a fire caused by a collision with a mine. According to the IRGC, another supertanker stopped due to a major fire while leaving the eastern part of the strait. The statement did not specify the cause of that fire.
A tugboat that approached the supertanker to extinguish the fire also caught fire, the IRGC said. Later, the Iranian army reported three more incidents through the state agency IRNA: one tanker in the morning and two vessels around noon, it claimed, hit sea mines in waters east of the Strait of Hormuz and caught fire.
Incident near Qatar
Separately, the British agency United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that a tanker was struck by two projectiles off the coast of Qatar. According to its data, this happened on November 4 at 23:20 GMT, approximately 50 nautical miles, or 93 kilometers, north of Madinat ash Shamal.
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UKMTO did not name the vessel or the state of its flag. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
At the end of October, the liquefied natural gas tanker Al Mayeda, owned by the Qatari company Nakilat, was also struck by unidentified objects while sailing in the Gulf. The company said that crew members were not injured, there was no environmental impact, and the vessel remained safe and operational.
According to Al Jazeera, since the start of the war against Iran at the end of February, Tehran has significantly restricted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries oil volumes accounting for about one-fifth of global consumption.
