Fire on Qatari tanker after strike off Oman near Hormuz

Muscat: A fully loaded Qatari tanker caught fire after being struck by an unidentified projectile off the coast of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday morning, July 7, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO).

In a maritime advisory, UKMTO said the incident occurred about eight nautical miles east of Limah, Oman. The tanker was travelling southbound when it was hit on the port side, causing a fire.

The maritime security agency said no casualties or environmental damage had been reported. Authorities are investigating the incident and have advised vessels transiting the area to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity.

The open-source intelligence platform Sentinel Defender reported that the vessel belongs to Nakilat Shipping Qatar Limited and was fully loaded at the time of the incident. It also said the tanker was sailing through the internationally recognised Oman-IMO transit lanes rather than routes designated by Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA).

Iran has previously maintained that only vessels using routes designated by the PGSA fall under its safe-passage guarantees, warning that ships outside those routes may not receive the same protection.

The incident comes amid heightened security concerns in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital maritime corridor through which a significant share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports passes.

Separately, open-source intelligence accounts circulated claims that two commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz had been struck by missiles. However, those reports remain unverified, and no official confirmation has been issued by regional authorities.