The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said the vessel was hit while transiting the strategic waterway and that local authorities were assisting those on board. UKMTO initially said the extent of damage, the crew’s condition and any environmental impact were unknown, before reporting that a fire had broken out and an evacuation was under way.
Iranian state media separately said an Iranian commercial vessel had been struck off Qeshm Island, near the strait, killing one person and wounding four. It was not immediately clear whether the Iranian account and the UKMTO alert referred to the same ship. Iran’s state news agency quoted the governor of Qeshm as blaming what he called a “terrorist enemy”, without identifying an attacker or providing evidence.
The incident added a new threat to shipping through a waterway already carrying sharply reduced commercial traffic amid the wider conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel. No party had claimed responsibility for the strike by Sunday, and the United States military had issued no immediate statement on the incident.
The attack came after Saudi Arabia temporarily halted its 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline following drone strikes that damaged installations along the route. The pipeline carries crude from the kingdom’s eastern producing areas to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi authorities said the pipeline was stopped as a precaution after several drones originating from Iraq struck sites in the Riyadh and Medina areas, causing injuries and material damage. Riyadh said it had chosen not to retaliate immediately after a request from Baghdad, while reserving the right to take measures to protect Saudi territory and critical infrastructure.
Iraq condemned the attack and said an investigation had confirmed that drones targeting Saudi Arabia were launched from southern Maysan province. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ordered an investigative council to examine failures within the Maysan Operations Command and dismissed the commander responsible for operations in the province.
An umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq denied responsibility. Baghdad also temporarily closed border crossings with Iran after the attack before reopening passenger traffic at the al-Sheeb crossing in Maysan and Shalamcheh in Basra on Sunday. Iraqi authorities said commercial movements would resume later.
The Saudi pipeline has assumed greater importance because of disruption to normal tanker movements through Hormuz. Oil traders and buyers are watching how long the line remains out of service, with Saudi Arabia yet to provide a timetable for repairs or a detailed assessment of the damage.
The weekend incidents have increased pressure on energy markets after oil prices moved above $100 a barrel last week. The scale of any further impact will depend partly on the duration of the Saudi pipeline outage and whether attacks on vessels cause additional shipping companies to avoid the Gulf route.
Regional maritime tensions have also risen after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement advanced along the Red Sea coast and took control of Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another important shipping chokepoint. The group has separately claimed drone and missile attacks on Saudi targets, while Saudi civil defence reported injuries and damage from a projectile in Jazan province near the Yemeni border.
Iran, meanwhile, says officials from regional states are expected to meet in Oman on Monday to discuss navigation through Hormuz and an arrangement Tehran says it has developed with Oman for managing shipping routes. Oman has not publicly confirmed the details of such an agreement, and Bahrain has said it will not attend talks with Iranian representatives.
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