Three ships attacked in Strait of Hormuz, maritime agencies say

Three ships were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz today, maritime security agencies say, as Iran pressed a second day of strikes in response to ongoing US-Israeli air attacks.

One ship, off the coast of Oman, was “struck by an unknown projectile above the waterline. Although the engine room was originally reported as on fire it has now been reported that the fire is under control,” the British maritime security agency UKMTO says in a statement.

In a separate incident, another vessel was “struck by an unknown projectile causing a fire. The fire has been extinguished and the vessel intends to continue on its voyage,” UKMTO says.

The private maritime security company Vanguard Tech indicates that the second vessel, a tanker, was located approximately 17 nautical miles northwest of Mina Saqr in the United Arab Emirates.

UKMTO later reports another projectile “exploded in very close proximity to a vessel” 35 nautical miles west of the Emirati city of Sharjah.

It says all crew were “safe and well.”

Iranian state television says an oil tanker is “sinking” after being struck while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reports, without elaborating.

Images broadcast by the television station show thick black smoke billowing from the burning tanker.

The strait is a key transit point for the global oil trade, through which a quarter of the world’s oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas pass.

Yesterday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards closed the shipping lane, warning that it was dangerous due to US and Israeli attacks.