Tehran, Nov 7:
Maritime tensions in the Persian Gulf escalated sharply following an apparent missile strike on a Greek-managed oil tanker that killed a crew member, alongside multiple reports of naval mine explosions involving commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Marshall Islands-flagged ballast tanker Velos Sapphire, owned by Athens-based Velos Tankers, was struck on its port quarter on Thursday while en route to Bahrain, triggering an onboard blaze and claiming the life of a sailor. The incident follows reports by Iranian state media and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claiming that several commercial tankers and a tugboat caught fire after allegedly detonating underwater mines while traversing restricted corridors.
Concurrently, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) documented an explosion near a tanker’s waterline off the Omani coastline. The fresh maritime strikes have heightened security risks along the critical maritime artery, which handles nearly 20% of global oil shipments, disrupting shipping lanes despite ongoing US naval escort missions in the region.