Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of attacking a Saudi-owned supertanker in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the incident killed two Filipino sailors aboard the vessel.
Saudi national shipping company Bahri said its tanker, Sidr, was involved in a security incident while passing through the strategic waterway late on Monday. The company said the event occurred at about 23:40 local time and confirmed the deaths of two Filipino seafarers, offering condolences to their families and colleagues.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry later said Iran had targeted Sidr as it transited the strait. The ministry condemned the incident alongside recent Iranian attacks on Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, and called for an end to escalation. It also stressed the importance of protecting international navigation, global energy supplies, national sovereignty and international law.
Conflicting accounts of tanker incidents
Maritime risk management and intelligence firms Marisks and Kpler reported that Sidr and another supertanker, the South Korean-owned Senegal Prosperity, were hit within minutes of one another while sailing outbound through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night.
According to Marisks, Sidr was struck by unidentified projectiles about 16 nautical miles north-east of Khasab, Oman, at 19:52 GMT. Senegal Prosperity was reportedly hit by three unidentified projectiles about 17 nautical miles east of Khasab. Both vessels were said to be carrying two million barrels of Saudi crude oil. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency reported two incidents in the same areas.
Iran had not responded directly to the Saudi allegation. However, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps said on Wednesday that two oil tankers using what it described as an illegal route through the strait had struck mines and exploded. It said the vessels had been travelling on a route encouraged by the US military and were on fire.
The US military did not comment on the tankers’ reported damage. It said its latest air strikes on Iran followed what it described as recent attempted attacks by the Revolutionary Guard on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and on US personnel.
Strait remains central to regional tensions
The developments came amid renewed exchanges between US and Iranian forces. Iran’s health minister said 18 people were killed and 108 injured in US strikes on Wednesday. Iran also accused the US of a war crime over a reported strike on a wedding party in Sirik that killed four people, including two children; the US military said it was examining those reports.
The Strait of Hormuz, normally a route for about one-fifth of global oil and gas shipments, has effectively been closed since the war involving the US, Israel and Iran began in February, according to the report. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said a record 17 million barrels of oil passed through the waterway by ship on Monday.
Source: BBC News
