TANKERS STRUCK OFF QATAR AND FUJAIRAH WITHIN 24 HOURS

Two commercial tankers were hit in separate incidents outside the Strait of Hormuz within 24 hours this week, according to maritime monitoring organisations. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said several projectiles struck the oil and chemical tanker Acers, flagged in Antigua and Barbuda, 51 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal in Qatar on Wednesday, and said casualties were reported, without giving further detail. Maritime intelligence firm Vanguard identified the vessel and said it had been heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, describing it as the first attack recorded in that area in more than six months. In a separate incident on Thursday, Vanguard reported a fire aboard a tanker it identified as likely the Marshall Islands-flagged Dhalgout, around 40 kilometres off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman. UKMTO said it had not recorded that incident, and the cause of the fire was not immediately clear, though NASA's FIRMS fire-detection system confirmed the blaze and US military aircraft were reported over the area at the time.

Responsibility for both attacks remained unconfirmed, as neither Iran nor Iranian state-linked media issued an official claim, though outlets affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps suggested Tehran had widened its operations against vessels it considers in breach of Iranian rules from the Strait of Hormuz to waters beyond it. The strait, through which maritime data suggests roughly a fifth of global oil and gas shipments normally pass, has been effectively closed since fighting between Iran and the United States began in late February, after both sides imposed naval blockades, according to reports. Separately, the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Centre said attacks, attempted attacks and harassment activity inside the strait, including drone overflights and radio hailing by the IRGC, had continued, with maritime security sources saying attacks on transiting tankers reached their highest weekly level since the war began.

Iran's acting defence minister, Majid Ebn ol-Reza, posted a message aimed at the United States on X on Thursday, writing: "The distance between you and us is determined by our missiles. Yesterday the Gulf of Oman, today the Indian Ocean and tomorrow the Bay of Pigs." No authority has confirmed further detail on casualties from the Acers attack or the cause of the fire on the suspected Dhalgout, and no measures affecting wider regional shipping have been announced.