A Panama-flagged oil tanker carrying 2 million barrels of fuel oil caught fire in Iraqi territorial waters on Wednesday following a drone strike, as a massive wave of tit-for-tat attacks between the U.S. and Iran pushed benchmark Brent crude futures past $100 a barrel.
Tankers and Territorial Waters Hit Across the Gulf
In Iraqi waters, the Panama-flagged oil tanker New Andros was struck by a drone at around 6 a.m., igniting a fire aboard the vessel. Two Iraqi port officials confirmed the attack, noting that the ship was carrying about 2 million barrels of Iraqi fuel oil.
There were no reports of casualties among the 22 crew members, the officials added. Iraq announced on Wednesday that an oil tanker used for storing fuel and operated by the Iraqi Oil Tankers Company was struck by an identified source while it was in the country’s territorial waters.
The incident caused minor material damage to the vessel’s hull,
the Oil Ministry said in a statement released on Facebook.
The incident resulted in no casualties or injuries among the vessel’s crew and did not cause any leakage of its cargo into the water, the ministry said. It added that relevant authorities are investigating the incident to determine the source of the impact and the circumstances that led to it.
Across the region, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported several vessels in the northern Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on either side of the strait, had been hit by disabling fire overnight. Separately, UKMTO reported another incident on Wednesday, 24 nautical miles from Port Rashid, in the United Arab Emirates. It said a vessel was sighted listing while at anchor, possibly indicating it had taken on water following an attack by an unknown projectile.
Off Dubai, one seafarer was killed aboard the oil products tanker Hercules Star while at anchorage and another crew member was missing, the vessel’s charterer, Peninsula, said. Maritime security sources said it may have been hit by a drone. A maritime security source reported a liquefied natural gas tanker was damaged in the Emirati port of Khor Fakkan.
Washington and Tehran Trade Strikes at Sea
Iran said on Wednesday it had attacked 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz after the US sank five Iranian oil tankers, in the biggest declared wave of tit-for-tat attacks on shipping by both sides since the start of the six-month-old war. Iran has also threatened oil tankers in Kuwaiti and Bahraini ports, according to a statement carried by state media.
Iran said it would soon release maps of a new, much larger off-limits zone at sea that would extend as far as the Arabian Gulf off Chabahar on the far reaches of Iran’s coast near Pakistan, the Guards said. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said they would sharply escalate their response to any further attacks, and if the enemy struck two or three Iranian targets, Iran would respond by hitting 20.
The US military said it destroyed five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday, including the Riesco. Earlier, the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) posted video of the strikes, which it called a response to the IRGC targeting a US Navy warship twice with ballistic missiles over the previous two days. No Americans were harmed, the US said.
Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that they're going to lose tankers,
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters during a visit to Colombia.
In a post on X Wednesday, local time, CENTCOM dismissed claims two naval defenders had been hit. This is completely false,
the statement read. No US Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed.
Meanwhile, US forces have successfully destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in just the last week.
These vessels were part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC, and Iran cannot defend them.
Energy Markets Reel as Supply Flows Plummet
The attacks sent the price of oil surging, with benchmark Brent crude futures breaching $100 a barrel for the first time since July.
Both the US and Iran are seeking to exert control over the Strait of Hormuz, where about one-fifth of the world’s oil passed before the war began. Recent days have also seen an escalation in fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen, a second theatre of war that threatens global energy supplies from the Middle East.
Iran has also carried out a ballistic missile attack on a base used by US forces near Al Azraq in Jordan again, according to an IRGC statement on state media. Although Iran said its missiles inflicted heavy damage, Jordan said its air defences intercepted 18 of the 20 Iranian missiles, with two falling in unpopulated areas with no casualties. A US official said Iran’s strikes in Jordan were ineffective and all American troops were accounted for.
