ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A tanker caught fire after being struck by an unidentified projectile near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday as President Trump issues new warnings to Iran, amid persisting tensions despite last month's US-Iran agreement to reopen the strategic waterway.
UKMTO, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received a report of a southbound tanker "hit by an unknown projectile on the port side causing a fire, whilst travelling southbound" about eight nautical miles east of Limah, Oman.
"No casualties or environmental impact reported," UKMTO said, noting that authorities were investigating the incident and advising vessels to "transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO."
The attack on the vessel comes hours after President Donald Trump issued a new warning to Iran to return to the negotiating table after the funeral of their supreme leader Ali Khamenei and make a deal.
Iran state media later claimed the tanker was attacked after ignoring repeated warnings. According to Iranian state media, the vessel was a Qatari-owned liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker named al-Ruqayyat attempting to transit through Omani waters in the Strait of Hormuz under the protection of the US Navy.
The reports alleged that the tanker had disregarded repeated warnings from Iranian authorities. However, no official authority has confirmed the vessel's identity nor the circumstances surrounding the attack.
The incident comes amid renewed uncertainty over security in the Strait of Hormuz, weeks after Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at ending the war which began in late February and reopening one of the world's most critical maritime trade routes.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, US President Donald Trump said he preferred reaching an agreement with Iran but warned that Washington held access to overwhelming military options if diplomacy failed.
"I'd rather make a deal because I don't want to affect 91 million people. We can knock down their bridges in one hour,” Trump said in reference to Iran’s energy supply.
The US “can knock out their electricity and power generating plants in - I would say - a small part of an afternoon. Every plant will be gone, and they know that," he threatened.
The latest maritime incident follows direct talks between US Vice President JD Vance and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff with Iranian chief negotiator and parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Lake Lucerne Summit in Switzerland on June 21, where leaders discussed the Islamabad MoU.
During the six-week Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz was a major focal point following Iran’s closure of the waterway during the war and subsequent attack on dozens of commercial vessels, prompting the United States to impose a naval blockade on Iranian ports and launch retaliatory strikes.
Commercial traffic resumed after an agreement was reached to reopen the passage, with Tehran insisting that ships must follow an Iranian-designated corridor along its coastline, warning against alternative routes.
The Strait of Hormuz remains the world's most critical maritime route for energy exports with around 20 million barrels of crude oil transiting daily in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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