The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency issued warning 134-26 over the weekend after a vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz was struck by an unknown projectile late Saturday. The incident was reported at 23:00 UTC on Saturday in the strait north of the Musandam peninsula. “A fire has broken out onboard the vessel following the reported attack. Local authorities are on the scene and assisting in evacuating crew members,” UKMTO said, advising vessels to transit with caution.
Separately, Iranian media citing the governor of Qeshm reported that an Iranian commercial container vessel with ten crew was struck by an unidentified projectile at about 05:00 local time on Sunday near Hengam Island, off the Qeshm coast. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, one crew member was killed and at least three others were injured — the first reported fatality in the tanker campaign. It is unclear whether the two reports describe the same vessel; UKMTO did not name the ship in its warning.
The pattern of targeting continues to concentrate on compliance: the PGSA said the three most recent incidents involved vessels owned or chartered by companies in the United Arab Emirates that appear on its non-compliance list, and Iran’s Fars News Agency reported a supertanker of about 2.5 million barrels capacity hit roughly 8 kilometers off the Omani coast after sailing an “unauthorized route.” No group has claimed responsibility for the weekend strikes.