Ship Ablaze Off Oman As Iran Increases Ship Attacks, UKMTO Reports

A commercial vessel was reportedly on fire in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the British maritime surveillance agency UKMTO said, amidst an increase in naval confrontations between the U.S and Iran in the waterway. The blaze was seen by the captain of a nearby vessel, 9 nautical miles north of Khasab in Oman.

UKMTO could not immediately confirm the cause of the incident, the condition of the crew or any associated environmental pollution. It advised ships operating in the region to practice caution during their transit, which remains risky as attacks on commercial vessels have escalated.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also said that 3 tankers had exploded and caught fire in 24 hours, after accidentally stepping on sea mines.

Tehran claimed that they had switched off their transponders and used an ‘unauthorised’ southern route to cross Hormuz, despite several warnings.

It remains unclear if the burning ship off Oman was among those cited by Iranian authorities or a different vessel. Tensions have soared in the Gulf as the U.S. and Iran are unable to reach an agreement to permanently end the war.

The status of the Strait of Hormuz is also being contested by both countries, with the U.S. calling it an international waterway with freedom of navigation for vessels of all countries, while Iran is bent on the imposition of a fee in exchange for several services it would provide to ships wanting to cross the Strait.

Iran has also warned ships not to take the southern route that hugs the Omani coastline to cross the Strait or take U.S help, as that could result in the vessel getting targeted by the IRGC.

According to maritime intelligence provider Kpler, crude flows through the Strait reduced even further last week, while the Washington Institute for Near East Policy noted that ship attacks are at the highest level since the war began in February, following U.S and Israeli strikes on Iran.

The U.S Navy has recently ramped up efforts to ensure the security of ships and enable the flow of energy products from the waterway, which once handled one-fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas.

Naval skirmishes are also on the rise, with Iranian media claiming that the country’s military forces downed a U.S. unmanned aircraft, an MQ-1 Predator, east of the Strait using an upgraded defence system.

Though Washington has not replied to this, Congressional Research Service figures confirm that dozens of U.S. surveillance and combat drones have been downed since February.

The White House is planning to expand military acitivites with sources suggesting that President Donald Trump is preparing for a new wave of strikes following the midterm elections. A third aircraft carrier strike group and thousands of personnel are preparing for a potentially long deployment in the Middle East.