25 Crew Evacuated From Burning Tanker After Attack in Strait of Hormuz
Key Facts
The Omani navy evacuated 25 crew members from a tanker that caught fire after being targeted in the Strait of Hormuz on October 30, in an incident 1.6 nautical miles off the coast of Musandam Governorate. The Associated Press said the tanker was Panama-flagged, while the Omani navy said it had assisted the vessel and evacuated its crew. Omani authorities said the vessel was targeted and caught fire, without providing further details about the nature of the attack or the tanker’s identity. Available reports did not identify the vessel as a liquefied natural gas carrier or say it was owned by Qatar Gas Transport Company. The confirmed facts therefore differ from the account in the initial draft about a Qatari gas tanker.
In a separate account, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said 4 oil tankers were hit by naval mines and caught fire while transiting the strait on Friday. It added, according to the Associated Press, that one was a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of oil and that the vessels were using a route Tehran described as unauthorized. These details remain attributed to the IRGC, as the agency did not independently verify them. The Iranian account also does not link the four tankers to the vessel whose crew Oman said it had evacuated. The differing accounts leave the details of the simultaneous incidents and the identities of the targeted vessels unresolved in published reports.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations center reported another incident on Friday, saying a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile south of Lavan Island and that its crew was safe. Lavan lies off the Iranian coast near Shidvar Island, according to the Associated Press’s description of the location. The agency did not link this report to the tanker whose crew was evacuated off Musandam. The center also did not identify the projectile or who fired it. The incident adds a separate report to the series of maritime incidents that sources said occurred in and around the strait that day.
The incidents have brought renewed attention to the use of limpet mines to target ships, a method Orbital Risk Intelligence said had not been recorded in an attack since May 2019. The Maritime Executive cited the company for this information in its coverage of recent maritime incidents. The report does not say the attack on the tanker whose crew was evacuated involved a limpet mine. Nor does the Iranian account of tankers being hit by naval mines, on its own, establish that the mines were limpet mines. Details of the weapon used in the attack on the vessel off Musandam have not been made public in the information cited by the sources.
A fleet list shows that the company operates liquefied natural gas carriers, including the vessel Al Rukayyat. But the presence of gas carriers in the company’s fleet does not establish that the vessel whose crew was evacuated on October 30 belonged to it. The Associated Press did not identify the vessel’s owner, saying only that it was Panama-flagged and located off Musandam. The Omani navy also did not provide details about the tanker’s type or cargo. The published information therefore does not support linking the incident to a Qatari tanker or the company.
The developments come as Qatar continues mediating between Tehran and Washington. Iranian state media said a Qatari delegation had returned to Iran for talks. The Associated Press reported that the delegation includes Qatar’s foreign minister and a senior adviser to the prime minister, and is meeting senior Iranian officials whose identities were not specified. The visit followed a message from U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance to Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Tehran acknowledged receiving the message on Thursday but said it had not responded and did not disclose its contents. The course of the contacts is expected to become clearer once Iran responds, though reports did not specify when that would happen.
Mediation efforts over the strait date back to an agreement Qatar and Pakistan helped broker in June, aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, ending the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and beginning broader negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. That diplomatic track puts the October incidents in the context of earlier efforts to address shipping and wider disputes between Iran and the United States. But the Qatari delegation’s return to Tehran alone does not determine the outcome of the talks. What the parties will discuss remains tied to their meetings and Iran’s expected response to Vance’s message. Available information included no announcement of a new agreement or change to shipping arrangements.