UKMTO Reports Tanker Hit by Unknown Projectile, Crew Evacuated off Jubail
Key Facts
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on November 8 that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile 68 nautical miles northeast of Jubail, Saudi Arabia. It added that the crew was safe and had been evacuated from the tanker. No environmental impact from the incident had been reported, according to the agency. The report came on the same day that UKMTO recorded a fire on another tanker northwest of Khasab, Oman. Incidents recorded in previous days show separate events in the waters of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, but the agency did not attribute the incident off Jubail to any party.
In a separate incident dated November 8, UKMTO said it had received a delayed report that a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile while exiting through the Strait of Hormuz. It said all crew members were safe and accounted for, and no environmental impact had been reported at the time. Available information does not clarify whether this was the same tanker struck off Jubail. The agency also did not identify the type of projectile or the party responsible for either incident. The difference in location and reporting route keeps each event separate in the incident record.
On November 7, UKMTO recorded an incident involving a cargo ship and military forces in the Gulf of Oman, about 18 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the UAE. The agency said the crew’s status, damage assessment and environmental impact were unknown when the report was prepared. The previous day, the master of a tanker heading out of the Strait of Hormuz reported an explosion at the waterline on the port side, 16 nautical miles east of Khasab. UKMTO said the tanker’s crew was safe, and that the vessel remained under its own power and continued its voyage. These details differ from the Jubail incident, in which the agency said the tanker was struck and the crew evacuated.
On November 5, UKMTO reported that a tanker was hit by two unknown projectiles 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal in Qatar. The agency said the crew’s status, damage assessment and environmental impact were unconfirmed at the time. On November 2, it recorded a separate incident involving a tanker heading southeast through the Arabian Gulf, 72 nautical miles east of Ras Al Khafji in Saudi Arabia. According to UKMTO, two unknown projectiles struck the tanker on its port side; all crew members were accounted for and no environmental impact had been reported. Similarities in some details of that incident and other reports do not establish that they concern the incident recorded off Jubail on November 8.
The reports come amid an escalation in attacks on commercial vessels in the region. The Associated Press said October saw the highest number of attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since March. The agency’s report linked the pressure to Iran’s attempt to push the United States to lift its blockade, but did not attribute the incident off Jubail to Iran or any other party. The agency also reported diplomatic efforts related to navigation in the strait, saying Qatari mediators held two rounds of talks with Iranian officials in the week before its report. It did not cite available evidence of an outcome from those talks or a connection to the tanker incident.
According to the Associated Press, further rounds of talks between Qatari mediators and Iranian officials were planned for the current week, with the aim of seeking a framework to halt Iranian attacks in the strait in exchange for the United States lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. The agency did not confirm that those rounds took place or that an agreement was reached. Available information also did not include data on oil price movements or insurance costs after the tanker was struck near Jubail. Information on the incident remains limited to UKMTO’s report of the unknown projectile and the crew’s evacuation. The agency did not announce responsibility for the incident in the reported details.