ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was later extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported Thursday.
“Local authorities have reported a tanker has been hit by an unknown projectile causing fire to the vessel which has since been extinguished,” UKMTO said in a warning, noting that all crew members were reported safe and accounted for, with no environmental impact reported.
The incident was reported by local authorities on Tuesday, according to the UKMTO.
“Authorities are investigating,” UKMTO said, advising vessels to “transit with caution” and report any suspicious activity to the agency. UKMTO did not identify the tanker’s nationality or provide details on its direction of travel.
The attack comes as tensions remain high in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route, amid an effective Iranian blockade that has been in place since the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February.
A US naval blockade on Iranian ports remains in effect since mid-July as Iran continues to claim sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting commercial shipping and forcing vessels to seek authorization for passage.
The latest incident also comes amid renewed US economic pressure on Iran. The US Treasury Department announced sanctions on Monday targeting Iranian oil revenues and networks involved in sanctions evasion, shipping and other sectors in a sweeping sanctions package dubbed Operation Economic Outcast, designed to aggressively curtail Iran's military capabilities and primary revenue streams.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth likewise signaled potential military escalation as well, telling reported on Monday, “If we need to use kinetic strikes, we’ll use them. If Iran is foolish enough to overplay their hand or mess with the American military, we’ll do what we need to do… but economic pressure, we know, hurts them the most right now.”
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described the campaign as an effort to achieve the “economic asphyxiation” of Iran, stating its objective to “sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone.”
Conversely, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian rejected the new sanctions on Wednesday, saying they “will not achieve anything.”
The US sanctions targeted nearly 60 entities, individuals and vessels across multiple jurisdictions, including networks accused of helping Iran transport oil and channel revenues to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and other Iranian state-linked entities.
The Treasury also sanctioned companies and vessels involved in Iran’s petroleum sector and what it described as a “shadow fleet” responsible for transporting Iranian crude and petroleum products.
