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Two supertankers carrying Saudi oil were struck by unknown projectiles within minutes of each other while transiting outbound through the Strait of Hormuz late on Monday, according to shipping intelligence and tracking firms Marisks and Kpler.
“The near-simultaneous incidents represent a further escalation in the threat environment within the Omani corridor,” Marisks said.
The tankers each loaded two million barrels of Saudi crude at the Juaymah terminal last week, Kpler data showed.
Oil prices gained on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened further strikes against Iran, following the first exchanges of fire since late July.
In the latest attacks on shipping, the Saudi Arabian-flagged very large crude carrier Sidr was struck by unknown projectiles about 31 kilometres northeast of Khasab, Oman, at around 3:52 p.m. ET, Marisks said.
Minutes later, the Liberian-flagged VLCC Senegal Prosperity was reportedly struck by three unknown projectiles approximately some 31 kilometres east of Khasab, Marisks said. All crew aboard were reported safe, it added.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency reported three projectiles striking a tanker in the same location as it sailed out of the Strait of Hormuz, in what appeared to be the same incident.
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(Photo credits: The Canadian Press, CAT-UXO, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
Bahri, operator of Sidr, and Sinokor, operator of Senegal Prosperity, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier on Tuesday, Iranian media reported that a Saudi oil tanker was stopped while transiting through the southern corridor of the Strait of Hormuz.
Energy exports curbed
Iranian and U.S. blockades of the Strait of Hormuz have sharply curbed energy exports from the Gulf as both sides tried to assert their authority over the waterway.
Efforts by mediators including Qatar and Oman to broker a deal to reopen the strait, which carried about a fifth of global oil supplies before the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran more than six months ago, have so far proven inconclusive.
Iran said on Tuesday it would reciprocate if the U.S. honoured its commitments under a June interim deal on halting their conflict, but tensions remained high after Trump threatened Tehran with further strikes.
The six-month-old conflict had shifted into an economic standoff before a U.S. attack on Iran’s Larak Island on Sunday, which Iran responded to by launching missiles overnight at two U.S. air bases in Jordan.
“We’re going to hit them hard … There will be a response,” a Fox News reporter quoted Trump as telling the channel on Monday, although the president separately told reporters that the renewed strikes did not signal a return to full-scale war.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters the exchanges of fire were a “limited and contained confrontation” but said Tehran would deliver a harsh response if attacked again.
While neither side appears to want a return to all-out war, their pledges to respond to further attacks highlight how quickly a conflict which has increasingly been fought through sanctions, blockades and economic pressure could spill back into military action.
‘Run and run’
Tehran has repeatedly said it will allow free navigation through the strait only if Washington implements the terms of the deal that was signed by both sides in June but quickly unravelled.
The agreement declared an end to fighting but deferred many of the most difficult issues and paved the way for a broader 60-day negotiation period — which passed without further agreement.
But the heightened tensions this week have renewed fears of oil supply disruptions from the world’s key crude-producing region.
“The tit-for-tat missile exchanges between the U.S. and Iran bring validation to those who believe that even if not a ‘forever war,’ this conflict will run and run,” said PVM analyst John Evans.
Thousands have been killed in the conflict, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, since it began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. Washington has increasingly relied on economic pressure to try to force Tehran to stop blockading the strait and end the war.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that countries doing business with Iran could face U.S. sanctions and said secondary sanctions are likely to be unveiled weekly in the effort to pressure Iran, with an initial focus on banks.
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Iran’s central bank governor, Abdolnaser Hemmati, said on Tuesday that Tehran had sufficient foreign currency reserves.
The central bank was ready to inject up to $2 billion US into the foreign exchange market to calm recent volatility, Hemmati was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“I am telling the president of the United States: Iran has [foreign] currency and it has enough,” he said.
His comments appeared partly aimed at reassuring markets after Iranian officials pointed to growing difficulties for Iran’s economy.
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