UKMTO REPORTS VESSEL FIRE IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Thursday that it had received a report of a vessel on fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The master of another vessel reported the sighting nine nautical miles (17 kilometres) north of Khasab, Oman. “The Master of a third-party vessel has reported sighting another vessel on fire. Status of crew is unknown,” UKMTO said. The Royal Navy-run agency gave no cause for the fire and had no information on damage or environmental effects.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday that three tankers had struck sea mines and caught fire in the previous 24 hours. It said the tankers had used a route it considered unauthorised. No available information establishes whether the UKMTO sighting involved one of those tankers. Iran has sought to control the strait since US and Israeli attacks on Iran in February began the wider war. The US Navy has escorted tankers through the area of the reported sighting.

Shipping data provider Kpler said oil exports through the strait fell again last week. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy said attacks on vessels there had reached their highest level since the war began. The US Navy is enforcing a blockade of Iranian vessels. Iran also said its forces had shot down a US drone east of the strait; that claim has not received independent verification.